The Charity Commission has recently published a report on last year's compliance work called ‘Charities Back on Track: Themes and Lessons from the Charity Commission's compliance work 2008-09'

The report states in its introduction that it has used case studies to illustrate each of the key compliance themes.  It is intended that this report will increase trustee awareness of how to avoid similar situations in their charities and, highlight what they need to do to ensure that they fulfil their legal duties in exercising control and management in the administration of their charities.

The report goes onto describe the key themes that emerged this year which are:

• Financial mismanagement: poor financial management and reporting continue to be significant problems
• Trustee duties and responsibilities: trustee and governance issues are stated to frequently occur and include individuals being unsuitable as trustees and inadequate management oversight by trustees of charities
• Vulnerable beneficiaries: the commission highlights continuing concerns about the way in which charities manage procedures for safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Political activities and campaigning: the commission carried out a number of significant investigations involving concerns of inappropriate political activities and campaigning

Attached is a PDF version of the report, groups may also wish to remind themselves of the Commissions' guidance on ‘the hallmarks of a well run charity' (CC60) also shown in our attachments list on the governance resources and referred to in previous e bulletins