Commission to investigate charity over almost £1m of accounting discrepancies

05 Dec 2014 News

A charity that provides vocational training courses is under investigation over a discrepancy of almost £1m between the charity’s published income and payments in the charity’s bank account.

A charity that provides vocational training courses is under investigation over a discrepancy of almost £1m between the charity’s published income and payments in the charity’s bank account.

The Charity Commission opened a statutory inquiry into BIETIC Learning and Development Training Centre in July 2014, after a scrutiny of the charity’s finances revealed that annual returns submitted to the Commission for the financial years ending 2009-2013 indicated a total income of £162,000, while its bank account showed an income of over £1.1m.

The regulator also identified close links and transactions between the charity and a commercial company connected to the charity’s trustees. The Commission became concerned about the “independence of the charity and whether conflicts of interest had been managed properly”.

The investigation will examine the financial administration of the charity by its trustees, in particular “the apparent discrepancy between the charity’s published income and expenditure, and the deposits and payments in the charity’s bank account”.

It will also look at whether the charity is being used for private benefit, and whether or not trustees have “complied with and fulfilled their duties and responsibilities as trustees under charity law”.

An operational compliance case into the charity was opened in July 2013 following an Ofsted inspection into educational activities linked to the charity.

The inquiry has only been made public today as the Commission had to “undertake further analysis of financial records” and verify information about the charity before informing trustees it was opening the inquiry.

The charity has not filed its annual returns with the Commission since June 2010. Its income dropped significantly from £56,824 in 2010, to £14,423 in 2011. Last year’s income was £17,150.

The charity did not respond to an invitation to comment.