Community accounting services have “died a death in London”, after failing to develop social enterprise models, according to the chief executive of Community Accounting Plus.

Community accounting organisations help small charities by offering cost-effective advice on finance, preparation of accounts, bookkeeping and payroll.

Speaking at an event run by CFG yesterday, John O’Brien (pictured) said although “thousands and thousands” of small charities in London are in need of accounting services, providers have died off in the capital, after failing to develop alternative income sources following local authority cuts.

“Years ago, in the days when there were lots of grants flying around, every borough had a community accounting service,” O’Brien told Civil Society News.

“But with reduction in funding, that has tailed off. In Nottingham, when I started Community Accounting Plus, I thought ‘these grants aren’t going to last for ever, we need to develop other things’ like social enterprise models.

“We are lucky to get a little bit of funding but most of it is fees. But that didn’t really happen in London, so when the grants ended, the services closed.”

O’Brien said costs of running accounting services in London were a major factor in the decline.

“It isn’t cheap. It’s very hard to find people with that level of knowledge on £30,000 or £40,000 in London. So the costs are an issue.

“It does stagger me - the demand is there. There are thousands and thousands of organisations who probably would pay something, so London has got a particular challenge.”

Community Accounting Plus was set up by O'Brien in 1991 with the aim of "enabling good management in voluntary organisations". The organisation specialises in providing cost-effective advice on finance, preparation of accounts, bookkeeping and payroll.