Time for a Spring Clean

At this time of year, many of us do our annual spring cleaning and its good practice for trustees of charities to do the same. Good governance demands clear, appropriate, and complete set of procedures and policies to ensure any organisation is well run and by ‘cleaning’ them, you will be in a better position to plan and react to any changes that may be on the horizon.

It is essential that charities regularly review and update their policies and procedures to manage the risks to the organisation of new ventures or ways of working whilst maintaining its ethos. With all the various changes that have taken place over the last couple of years, there is a risk that many long-standing policies are no longer fit for purpose. For example, have you updated your policies to take into account online meetings? Do financial procedures still rely on manual sign off rather than electronic approval? Has your organisation got sufficient checks and balances to in place where procedures have changed?

As well as reviewing essential areas, like health and safety, safeguarding, confidentiality and risk assessment, your organisation should consider the impact of home working, data security and cyber fraud. How does the management communicate? Have you considered supervision, appraisal and wellbeing? Although these issues are mainly operational, the trustees will also have to review their financial policies, including their reserves policy.

Although many charities have successfully negotiated the past two years, trustees need to consider their future income streams with the demand for their services and think about what their policy will be.

It is also timely to review your eco-friendly policies, like green credentials and equality & diversity procedures and policies, and once trustees are satisfied that the existing policies reflect their current and future plans, they must consider whether or not they are then complete.

If you would like to discuss your charity’s business needs, or any issues affecting your charity, please contact a member of our EQ Charities team via charities@eqaccountants.co.uk or contact one of our offices.