Over the past decade, charities’ annual reports and accounts have undergone an evolution.
This is apparent in the research carried out by accountancy firm Price Bailey for Charity Finance magazine every year since 2016.
A new Charities SORP is due to be published any day now, meaning we stand at a crossroads for charity reporting.
With this in mind, Suzanne Goldsmith and Michael Cooper-Davis, charity partners at Price Bailey, took the opportunity to review what trends the nine years of data revealed.
Each year, the research alternated between the charities in the Charity Finance 100 Index and the charities ranked 101-200 in the Charity Finance 250 Index (the indexes rank charities based on average three-year income).
Writing in the October issue of Charity Finance, Goldsmith and Cooper-Davis said “the overall trajectory is one of greater transparency, professionalism and strategic storytelling”.
Delivery of strategy
One example of this increased transparency is the way charities have developed their reporting of how they have delivered on their strategy.
When the research started in 2016, two-thirds of the UK’s 100 largest charities failed to report on how they measured success against their strategic goals.
However, in 2023, all of the charities in this group were doing so.
Those in the next tier (ranked 101-200) experienced a similar improvement, with non-disclosure dropping from nearly a quarter in 2020 to just 3% in 2024.
Moving beyond compliance
One side effect of this improved transparency is an increase in the length of annual reports and accounts.
For the 100 largest charities, the average number of pages increased by 70% between 2016 and 2024.
This is probably in part due to an increase in the use of infographics, highlights, key statistics, etc, among this group of charities.
In 2019, just under half used them, but this increased to over three-quarters in 2023 – a 59% increase.
Goldsmith and Cooper-Davis wrote in their article: “This evolution reflects a growing recognition that annual reports aren’t just compliance documents, but strategic tools for stakeholder engagement and fundraising.”
Major changes coming
Charities’ reporting is about to undergo the biggest regulatory shake-up in years, with the publication of a new Charities SORP, which takes effect for financial periods starting after 1 January 2026.
The draft version of the SORP included additional disclosures on sustainability, impact and more.
All of these play into the trend of increased information in annual reports and accounts – and could therefore further the move towards increased length.
As Goldsmith and Cooper-Davis put it: “With the new SORP set to reshape trustee reporting and introduce tiered and sustainability-focused disclosures, charities of all sizes will need to adapt once again.
“But if the last nine years are any indication, the sector is more than capable of rising to the challenge.”
