The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008

Form and content of group accounts: general requirements

16.—(1) In addition to complying with regulation 13, 14 or 15, as the case may be, the group accounts prepared by the charity trustees of any parent charity under paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 5A to the 1993 Act must comply with the requirements prescribed in this regulation.

(2) The group accounts must be prepared in accordance with applicable accounting principles and in particular must make the adjustments or include the information prescribed in this regulation.

(3) The group accounts must incorporate in full the information contained in the individual accounts of the parent charity and its relevant subsidiary undertakings, subject to such consolidation adjustments, if any, as may be appropriate in accordance with applicable accounting principles.

(4) Where the financial year of a relevant subsidiary undertaking differs from that of the parent charity, the group accounts must be made up from—

(a) the accounts of the relevant subsidiary undertaking for its most recent financial year ending before the last day of the parent financial year, provided that financial year ended no more than three months before the parent financial year ended; or

(b) interim accounts prepared by the relevant subsidiary undertaking as at the end of the parent financial year.

(5) Where an undertaking becomes a subsidiary undertaking of a parent charity, that event must be accounted for in the group accounts by the acquisition method or merger method of accounting as appropriate in accordance with applicable accounting principles.

(6) Where the parent charity or a relevant subsidiary undertaking—

(a) has an interest in an associated undertaking or participates in the management of a joint venture and that associated undertaking or joint venture is not itself a subsidiary undertaking of the parent charity; or

(b) participates in a joint arrangement,

the interest of the parent charity or subsidiary undertaking in that associated undertaking, joint venture or joint arrangement must appear in the group accounts as appropriate in accordance with applicable accounting principles.

(7) The consolidated balance sheet must identify as a separate item any minority interest in the net assets or liabilities of any relevant subsidiary undertaking as appropriate in accordance with applicable accounting principles.

(8) The consolidated statement of financial activities, consolidated income and expenditure account or consolidated statement of changes in net assets, as relevant, must identify as a separate item any minority interest in the net movement of the funds of a relevant subsidiary undertaking as appropriate in accordance with applicable accounting principles.

(9) In this regulation—

(a) “applicable accounting principles” means, in relation to a parent charity that is required to prepare group accounts, the methods and principles set out in—

(i) the financial reporting standards and statements of standard accounting practice issued by the body known as The Accounting Standards Board(1) (“the Board”) that are relevant to the preparation of those accounts by that parent charity;

(ii) any abstract issued by the committee of the Board known as the Urgent Issues Task Force which is relevant to the preparation of those accounts by that parent charity; and

(iii) any statement of recommended practice (including the SORP) issued by a body recognised by the Board for the purpose of issuing guidance on the standards in paragraph (i) relevant to the preparation of those accounts by that parent charity.

(b) “parent financial year” means the financial year of the parent charity in respect of which the group accounts are prepared;

(c) “relevant subsidiary undertaking” means a subsidiary undertaking of the parent charity which is not excluded under regulation 19 from the group accounts required to be prepared for the parent financial year.

(1)

The Accounting Standards Board was established under the articles of association of The Accounting Standards Board Limited.