The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 1995

Independent examination of charity accounts

7.  An independent examiner who has carried out an examination of the accounts of a charity under section 43 of the 1993 Act shall make a report to the charity trustees which—

(a) states his name and address and the name of the charity concerned;

(b) is signed by him and specifies any relevant professional qualifications or professional body of which he is a member;

(c) is dated and specifies the financial year in respect of which the accounts to which it relates have been prepared;

(d) specifies that it is a report in respect of an examination carried out under section 43 of the 1993 Act and in accordance with any directions given by the Commissioners under subsection (7)(b) of that section which are applicable;

(e) states whether or not any matter has come to the examiner’s attention in connection with the examination which gives him reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect—

(i) accounting records have not been kept in respect of the charity in accordance with section 41 of the 1993 Act; or

(ii) the accounts do not accord with those records; or

(iii) in the case of an examination of accounts a statement of which has been prepared under section 42(1) of the 1993 Act, the statement of accounts does not comply with any of the requirements of regulation 3 or, as the case may be, 4 above except the requirements specified in paragraph 1 of Part III of Schedule 1 to these Regulations;

(f) states whether or not any matter has come to the examiner’s attention in connection with the examination to which, in his opinion, attention should be drawn in the report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached;

(g) where any of the following matters has become apparent to the examiner during the course of the examination, namely, that—

(i) there has been any material expenditure or action which appears not to be in accordance with the trusts of the charity; or

(ii) any information or explanation to which he is entitled under regulation 8 below has not been afforded to him; or

(iii) in the case of an examination of accounts a statement of which has been prepared under section 42(1) of the 1993 Act, any information contained in the statement of accounts is inconsistent in any material respect with any report of the charity trustees prepared under section 45 of the 1993 Act in respect of the financial year in question,

contains a statement to that effect.