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Nall faces NHS accounts quandary after Moorfields appointment

Governance | Tania Mason | 25 Aug 2010

The chair of Charity Finance Directors’ Group insists he will see out his tenure as chair despite his new job as finance director of an NHS hospital putting him on the wrong side of the debate about consolidation of charity accounts into NHS balance sheets.

However, he denies that this potential conflict of interest would render untenable his chairmanship of Charity Finance Directors’ Group, and told Civil Society he would stay on to serve out his last year as chair.

“It is no more so [a conflict of interest] than for anybody else who has a charity post and also happens to work for an NHS trust,” said Charles Nall. “It’s a fair point but a spurious point.”

Nall (pictured) announced last month that he would start his new job at Moorfields on 31 August but would continue to work half-time as FD at the Children’s Society until 24 September. The Society is currently seeking his replacement.

He has been chair of CFDG for three years and has one year left to serve, as per CFDG’s constitution. He told Civil Society it was “sensible” that he serve out his final year to allow the membership body to properly plan for his succession.

Chairmanship remains valid without financial responsibility

As part of his new role at Moorfields, he will join the trustee board of the eye hospital’s recently-launched charity, the Moorfields Lions Korle Bu Trust. The Trust plans to fundraise to build and run an eye hospital in Ghana but was only registered last year and has not yet filed any accounts.

Nall will not be responsible for managing the finances at Korle Bu in an executive sense but he said his membership and chairmanship of CFDG remained valid because he will be the “senior charity appointment overseeing the finances”.

CFDG’s Articles of Association states that “membership shall be open to charity finance director and such individuals…with responsibility for charity financial matters as the committee may approve”.

On the issue of consolidation of NHS charity accounts, Nall said consolidation was about “form as opposed to substance”, and added that “the role of trustees is to be ultimately responsible to their beneficiaries, not their institutions”.

Last year HM Treasury had threatened to implement an international accounting standard that threatened to see donations to NHS charities lumped in to general NHS balance sheets. But after concerted lobbying by the Association of NHS Charities, the Charity Commission and others, the Treasury agreed to postpone implementing the new standard for a year to allow it to review the accounting treatment of the trusteeship of NHS charities within the context of the government accounting framework.

CFDG deputy chair Roger Chester declined to comment about Nall’s continuing suitability as chair.

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