Less than a third of charities report acceptably on public benefit and less than two thirds produced acceptable accounts over the last two years, a Charity Commission survey of its register has found.

A report released yesterday Public benefit reporting by charities, shows that of 215 charitable accounts compared over two financial years, only 66 organisations adequately reported about public benefit, compared to 149 who did not. 

In a seperate report The quality of charity accounts based on the same sample, the Charity Commission found that the quality of account reporting more or less correlated to an organisation’s size. Almost 90 per cent of charities with an income of over £500,000 were deemed to have filed acceptable accounts. This number fell to 54 per cent with organisations with an annual income of less than £250,000. 

Public benefit reporting

Since 2008, the Charity Commission has required organisations to formally report on their charity’s public benefit. The minimum requirement for this must include a report on activities undertaken to further the charity’s purposes and a statement as to whether the trustees have due regard to the commission’s guidance on public benefit.

Speaking at an NPC conference on impact earlier in the week Paula Sussex, chief executive of the Charity Commission said that while the regulator was making strides towards better public benefit reporting, there was still a long way to go. 

“I would hazard to say that the Charity Commission is very much in the foothills when it comes to public benefit reporting by charities. We very much need your help.”

Sussex pointed to the new prototype online register, launched at the beginning of the week, as one of the ways that the Commission is looking to improve transparency.

In a statement released yesterday by the Commission, Sussex said that public benefit reporting plays an important part of instilling trust in the voluntary sector.

“Knowing what charities do and achieve with their resources matters to people. We know that accountability is among the most important drivers of public trust in charities.

“That goes beyond getting the figures in your accounts right. It’s about using the opportunity to explain their charities’ impact, to tell their story in a way that its supporters and beneficiaries understand.”

More charities filing 'acceptable' accounts than before

In the financial year 2011/12 54 per cent of the sample accounts were found to have been submitted at an "acceptable" level. This figure rose slightly in 2012/13 to 68 per cent.

All charities must submit three things: an annual report, an independent scrutiny report and their accounts.  

Some 13 per cent of applications in 2011/12 did not submit one or more of those required elements. In 2012/13 this fell to 8 per cent.