The Charity Commission has concluded a five-year investigation into the Association for Reaching and Instructing Children in Africa, which had failed to improve financial controls, including the signing of blank cheques, despite instructions from the Commission.

Releasing its regulatory case report on the charity this week, the Charity Commission said it decided to publicise the findings given the significant number of complaints originally received about the organisation.

Association for Reaching and Instructing Children in Africa had previously been investigated by the Commission in 2007. At the conclusion of that Inquiry, the Commission required the trustees to make changes to its financial monitoring, child protection policy and trustee board.

However, the Commission found that little progress had been made, so it opened a further investigation in 2009 in the form of a Regulatory Compliance Case.

As a result of the second investigation, the charity has since set up an adequate child protection policy and improved financial controls - including no longer signing blank cheques.

The charity has also addressed conflict of interests on the trustee board, including decisions made about a daughter of a trustee employed by the charity.

The Charity Commission said the timescale for the investigation was longer than usual due to the charity’s activity overseas and the trustees’ reluctance to accept the findings of the last Inquiry.