Downloadable 44 page .pdf (652kb) produced for the Finance Hub by NCVO Sustainable Funding Project. The document looks at why financial management is important and covers a range of topics, including developing a financial strategy, budgets and cash flow management, book keeping and financial accounting. It also looks at tax and at financial management and governance. It includes good practice advice, examples and templates for advisers and groups to use.

This section of the Community Accounting Network site is devoted to providing a range of accountancy services tools.

A comprehensive report examining existing structures and advice on the development of the infrastructure needed to support a community accountancy service.

The Charity Commission provides further guidance and an accounting pack that includes templates.

This guidance is aimed primarily at charity trustees and sets out what charities are required to do, in terms of preparing Annual Reports, accounts, and Annual Returns. It also signposts trustees to other helpful information. This guidance incorporates the changes introduced by the Charities Act 2006 and changes, for charitable companies, brought into effect by the Companies Act 2006 with effect for financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2008.

A further update to this guidance will be issued when the outcome of the thresholds review being carried out by the Office of the Third Sector is known so keep a look out. Recent reports sugggest that the new thresholds for unincorporated charities will be:
Charities with an annual income below £25,000 will no longer have to submit their annual accounts to the Charity Commission under plans approved by the regulator. The threshold is currently £10,000. However, the commission intends to introduce random checks for those below the £25,000 threshold.
The threshold for preparing accruals accounts for unincorporated charities will also be raised from £100,000 to £250,000.

An updated edition of the Charities SORP 2005, the accounting standard for registered charities, published in June 2008 by the Charity Commission. No major changes - but a tidying up around the recent Charities and Companies Acts and accountancy reporting regulations.

A series of useful information sheets called CASHFACTS can be downloaded free from Community Accountancy Self Help (CASH), a London-based community accountancy project.

Companies House provides guides to the requirements for registered companies.

The Community Interest Companies Regulator provides guides to the requirements for CICs.