The Sorp committee has published new guidance for company charities with an income over £6.5m to help them comply with new reporting requirements.

OSCR and the Charity Commission, which together make up the Sorp committee, today published Information Sheet 5 – The Strategic Report to explain how charities that are also registered as a company and have a turnover of more than £6.5m now need to produce a strategic report instead of a business review.

It says that charities should incorporate the strategic report into the trustees' annual report and accounts.

The new requirements apply to all financial periods ending on or after 30 September 2013. In August 2013 the government introduced new regulations to the Companies Act 2013 stipulating that large and medium-sized charities produce a separate strategic report, instead of having to include a business review within the director’s report.

The guidance notes that: “The purpose and required content of the strategic report does not differ significantly from that of the business review which it replaces.”

An updated Sorp is expected to be published later this year, and the Commission and OSCR have said that no changes are needed to the current Sorp.