DCH 178 Vic Moreland
Vic Moreland CSD.;
FAIA.; MACIE.
Charity Accountancy Services
www.strands.me.uk
"Pentreath",
21 Church Street, St. Day. Cornwall, TR16 5JY
: 01209 822305 :01209 821735 :vic.moreland@strands.me.uk
Monday, June 28, 2004
Francene Graham
Scrutiny Unit - Draft Charities Bill
Room G10, 7 Millbank
London
SW1P 3JA
Dear Ms Graham
Evidence on Draft Charities Bill - Clause 22
As someone who has worked with charities for over
thirty years in providing accountancy services and more recently
as an independent examiner, I welcome the new Draft Charities
Bill, which l believe will benefit charities generally.
I also welcome the proposal to allow charities to
have an independent examination of their accounts up to £500,000
income and to require examiners of larger charities to have a
relevant qualification. However, I was concerned that people like
myself who have been admitted as Full Members of the Association
of Charity Independent Examiners, and recognised with a Domain
of Competence to cover independent examination of "Any charity
in England and Wales up to the legal limit for IE" have not
been included in the list of relevant qualifications in the Bill.
In order to be admitted to the Association with
this Domain I have had to demonstrate extensive knowledge and
experience of charity accounting and the Charities SORP and the
duties of independent examiners. It would be most unfortunate
to omit qualified Full Members of the only professional
body specifically concerned with charity independent examination.
.
Although I am a Fellow of the Association of International
Accountants, a body recognised in the existing wording in clause
22, I know that many professional accountants are not charity
specialists. Indeed, section 249D(3) of the Companies Act to which
clause 22 refers is solely concerned with the examination of company
accounts. By contrast, Full Members of ACIE have been admitted
to a professional qualification specifically concerned
with charity accounts. If I were a trustee of a charity seeking
an independent examiner I would very much prefer to appoint an
ACIE Full Member with the maximum Domain of Competence since he
or she would be able to bring the specialized knowledge of charity
accounts to the task which full Membership of that body requires.
I do hope the Committee will accept that clause 22
as currently worded, will exclude many extremely competent people
with many years experience of the charity sector and will amend
the Draft Bill accordingly.
Yours sincerely
Vic Moreland
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