The Charity Commission has opened an inquiry into Water for Africa, stating the charity failed to submit accounting information.
Enquiries led the regulator to note concerns about financial controls at the charity, based in Staffordshire.
The charity was registered in 2006 and works to provide water, sanitation and healthcare to communities in West Africa.
The regulator identified concerns about the charity’s financial controls, record-keeping and the use of its funds including payments to a third-party and overseas payments.
It wrote to the trustees setting out its regulatory concerns, which included potential financial misconduct and inadequate record-keeping, but states the responses it received failed to provide adequate assurances or documentation.
The regulator opened a statutory inquiry on 16 August 2023 to examine the extent to which the trustees are complying with their legal duties in particular their accounting and reporting responsibilities, whether potential conflicts of interest and connected party transactions have been properly managed and the trustees’ plans for the charity’s future.
The Commission may extend the scope of the inquiry if additional regulatory issues emerge.
Water for Africa’s income for the financial year ending 30 June 2020 was £353,000, while total expenditure was £199,000. It lists two trustees.
Civil Society has contacted the charity for comment.
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