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Small charities singled out for praise in online accounts

Finance | Daniel Phelan | 20 Jul 2010

Smaller charities were praised for their constant innovation in presenting their accounts on the web, at this year’s ICAEW’s online accounts awards ceremony last week.

“Smaller charities consistently innovate the most,” said Graham Ward, chair of the judging panel. “However,” he continued, “charities with income between £500,000 and £2m innovate proportionally poorly,” and announced that there would be no second prize awarded in that category as a result.

Ward explained that a rigorous screening process examined ease of navigation, quality of design and innovation in online accounts. The judges also looked for “good levels of interactivity” and for charities “to be keeping up with the pace of innovation in technology”. With the web “increasingly being the prime means of communication” accounts should “not just be an afterthought satisfied by simple posting a PDF of the printed document”.

Ward said the judges were most impressed with the quality of entrants in the category for charities with income below £100,000. Mexborough & Swinton Astronomical Society and Chesterfield Philharmonic Choir were awarded joint first prize, each winning £2,250. The former was praised for “clearly leading the field with a stunning example of what charities should do at the level” and the latter was described as having “excellent interactivity and very good use of hyperlinks”.

The £100,000-£500,000 category was won by Cecily’s Fund, described as “an extremely good example of online reporting”, which attracted a prize of £2,000. South Yorkshire Funding Advice Bureau came second winning £1,000 and praise for “a well designed and very interactive set of accounts”.

Described as “a disappointing category”, only one award was made in the £500,000-£2m range, with Dance United winning £1,500 for “a good list of statements on a strong site”.

In the category for charities with turnover above £2m, the British Library won for its “good use of video and excellent interactivity”, securing £1,000 as its prize. Plan UK came second for “an innovative and engaging site”, winning £500.

Finally, the judges looked at the online accounts of the largest 100 charities and concluded that the British Red Cross had the best online accounts with Islamic Relief Worldwide coming second for its “really impressive accounts”.

Andrew Hind, chief executive of the Charity Commission then made an honorary award to Paul Palmer (pictured), professor of Voluntary Sector Management at Cass Business School, in recognition of his contribution to charity accounting. Describing Palmer as “a man of many talents”, Hind praised Palmer’s “contribution to charity accounting for more than 20 years”.

Everybody Counts awards for voluntary service

The ICAEW also announced the winners of its Everybody Counts awards which recognize the voluntary work of chartered accountant in the sector. The winners – each of whom get £2,000 for their charity – are chosen for their time sacrifice and commitment and the difference their work has made.

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Directory: British Red Cross | Cass Business School | Charity Commission | ICAEW | Islamic Relief Worldwide
Who's Who: Paul Palmer