The Charity Commission has abandoned the practice of randomly checking charities’ annual reports and accounts, in a further move to refocus its activities to accommodate funding cuts. Alex Hardie reports.

The Commission has already confirmed that it is to cease making random review visits to charities’ offices, relying instead on information about concerns and issues raised in visits to certain selected charities.The Commission estimates that it has been randomly checking around 2,000 sets of accounts a year but chief executive Andrew Hind said that after reviewing what other regulatory bodies such as Companies House did, it had decided on the change in line with the risk-based approach it was applying to other elements of its work.

Hind also confirmed that it would be cracking down on charities failing to file their accounts. While it has no power to remove charities from the register for filing non-compliance, it is seeking to be tougher on those which are dormant. Therefore, charities not responding to three reminders for their accounts will be removed on the grounds that they have failed to prove they are active.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has begun naming and shaming charities that have failed to provide annual returns and accounts within six months of the official ten-month deadline. At present 294 charities are included on the list. The allowance of a further six months contrasts with the Commission’s policy, which lists charities as in default immediately following the initial ten-month period.

An OSCR spokesman said the leniency was because the system was still “early days” in Scotland, therefore it wanted to work with charities to ensure they fully understood the regulatory process. If the documentation is still not received within 12 months of the original ten-month deadline, the charity may either be removed from the register or an accountant appointed by OSCR to prepare accounts on its behalf, with trustees personally liable for the cost of doing so.