The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has confirmed it will publish the annual reports and accounts of charities with incomes over £25,000 on its website, and says it intends to have the facility available by the end of this year.

The regulator announced last year that it was consulting on plans to publish annual reports and accounts. It confirmed in its latest newsletter, published on Friday, that this would go ahead.

It also said it will also publish the accounts of all Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations, regardless of size.

“The Charity Commission for England and Wales have done so for some time, and we believe it’s a big step in reinforcing transparency and, ultimately, public confidence,” OSCR said its newsletter.

“The public already has the right of access to charities’ most recent set of accounts on request, so this proposal really just makes it even easier to view useful information about charities and their work.”

OSCR said it had received more than 300 responses to a consultation on the way it works, the most ever. Full results from that consultation will be available shortly, however it has already decided to take the accounts proposal ahead.

“Our hope is that this step will also help to drive up standards and encourage charities to set out clearly how the assets they hold are being applied for public benefit,” the regulator said in its newsletter.

“We have some issues to bottom out, such as the redaction of signatures from documents, but we’re working on that as part of the project and our intention is to have this facility available by the end of this calendar year.”