Part 1Charities
Chapter 6Charity accounts
Duty to keep accounts etc.
44Accounts
(1)
A charity must—
(a)
keep proper accounting records,
(b)
prepare for each financial year of the charity a statement of account, including a report on its activities in the financial year,
(c)
have the statement of account independently examined or audited, and
F1(ca)
have the independent examiner or auditor make a report in respect of the examination or (as the case may be) audit (an “independent report on accounts”),
(d)
after F2the independent report on accounts has been made, send a copy of the report and statement of account to OSCR,
in accordance with regulations under subsection (4).
(2)
Accounting records kept in pursuance of subsection (1)(a) must be preserved by the charity for 6 years from the end of the financial year F3to which they relate.
F4(2A)
Where the charity ceases to be a charity before the end of the period mentioned in subsection (2), the records must be preserved for the remainder of that period by—
(a)
the body which was the charity, or
(b)
where that body ceases to exist, a person notified to OSCR who, immediately before it ceased to exist, was—
(i)
a charity trustee of the charity, or
(ii)
where the body was not a charity at that time, concerned in the management or control of the body.
(3)
F5Subsections (2) and (2A) are without prejudice to any other enactment or rule of law.
(4)
The Scottish Ministers may by regulations make provision about the matters referred to in subsection (1) including—
(a)
the meaning of “financial year”,
(b)
the information to be contained in the accounting records and statement of account,
(c)
the manner in which that information is to be presented,
(d)
the keeping and preservation of the accounting records,
(e)
the methods and principles according to which, and the time by which, the statement of account is to be prepared,
(f)
the time by which the copy statement of account is to be sent to OSCR,
(g)
examination or audit of the statement of account F6(including matters relating to the independent report on accounts),
(h)
such other matters in relation to the accounts of a charity as the Scottish Ministers think necessary or expedient.
F7(4A)
Regulations under subsection (4) must be framed so that a charity is not required to include any information in its statement of account that is excluded from its entry in the Register under section 3(4).
(5)
Regulations under subsection (4) may make different provision in relation to different types of charity, including provision exempting charities of a particular type from some or all of the requirements of this section.