Church of Ireland

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Church of Ireland

• Charities registration and compliance

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• Welcome
• Seamus Murray
• Church of Ireland response
• Support for Hon Treasurers
• Accounts for Charities
• Q and A session

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• Mr Seamus Murray
• Head of Secretariat
• Charity Commission of Northern Ireland
• Presentations
• Charities Legislation
• Public Benefit

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Response of Church of Ireland

• New structures good for the charitable sector
• Will improve practices and image
• Sit well with existing structures and processes
  in C of I
• Should not be too great a burden
• Can be used to improve an already strong
  governance
• Will be adhered to it is the law

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Response of Church of Ireland

• How will the Church register?
• Diocesan decision by diocese or parish
• Different responses in different dioceses
• Diocesan decisions will be provided with support
  from the RCB
• Interim register
• Parishes/entities registered with HMRC
• No action currently needed by them
• Will be written to by NI Charity Commission to
  confirm registration details

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Response of Church of Ireland

• Expectations of parishes on Interim register
• Accounts for 2010, earliest
• Activity report for 2010, earliest
• Parishes/entities not registered with HMRC
• Parishes not registered as charities at present
• No need for action at present
• Registration process will commence after April
  2010
• Process will be phased

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C of I governance - future

• C of I is divided into dioceses
• Parish incumbent responsible to the Bishop of the
  diocese
• Select Vestry responsible for looking after day
  to day income and expenditure, and the
  maintenance of the properties
• Most properties are not owned by the parish, but
  are vested in the RCB
• RCB established in 1870 as incorporated trust to
  hold property for C of I
• Not within power of parish or SV to dispose of
  vested property
• Not part of the accounting responsibility of the
  parish

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Complying with Charities Legislation

• Model for parochial registration
• The charity will be based on the Select Vestry
• The membership of the SV, as constituted from
  time to time, will be the Charity Trustees
• The Charity will have as its main object the
  support of the charitable activities of the
  parish
• The SV Charity will seek to be incorporated, and
  thus will survive (annual) changes in the
  membership
• Facility to incorporate is built into new
  legislation
• The SV Charity will seek to avail of designated
  religious status
• This will allow the Church to self manage the day
  to day confirmation of appropriate people to
  serve
• The NICC still has the ultimate power to
  intervene in cases of bad governance

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Trusteeship

• NICVA advice note 7 Charity Trustees Duties
• What is a charity trustee?
• persons having the general control and
  management of the administration of a charity
  are considered to be trustees, whether they are
  aware of it or not
• See NICVA website www.nicva.org

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Status of SV members

• No fundamental change
• Remain responsible for the good governance of the
  income and expenditure of the parish
• Responsible to the Easter Vestry
• Responsible to the wider Church
• Responsible to the community
• Insurance for SV members already in many cases
  covers the members for implied trustee
  responsibilities

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Support for SVs

• Model for parish registration
• Model for statement of SV Charity purpose
• Model for statement of public benefit
• Model for annual statement of activity
• Guidelines for the use of parochial treasurers
• Models for compliant parish accounts
• Specialised software to deliver compliance

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Support for SVs

• Model for parish registration
• Model for statement of SV Charity purpose
• Model for statement of public benefit
• Model for annual statement of activity
• Guidelines for the use of parochial treasurers
• Models for compliant parish accounts
• Specialised software to deliver compliance

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Honorary Treasurer

• Responsible to the SV to deliver
• Robust processes
• Clear and complete accounting records
• Accounts which reflect all relevant transactions
• Accounts which show how funds raised for specific
  purposes have been used appropriately fund
  accounting

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Robust processes

• Two signatories for all cheques
• All cash counted and signed for by more than one
  person
• Segregation of duties
• Clear and timely record keeping
• Elimination of cash payments
• Budgets for the incoming year
• Report on all financial transactions to SVs and
  Easter Vestries
• Etc

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Changes from the past

• Parishes with properties vested in the RCB have
  to account for I and E and changes in cash and
  investment values, as now - but
• All funds under the care of the SV must be
  reported
• No longer an issue to do with church/diocesan
  funding it would be illegal to omit funds
• Most parishes will have no problem with this
• Parishes which own properties directly will have
  to account for them in their balance sheet
• Trusts holding property separate from the SV will
  need to re-examine the validity of the
  relationship with the SV

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What happens now

• 457 parishes and parish groupings
• Much higher number of Select Vestries
• Every SV is monitoring income and expenses
• Every SV is producing annual accounts
• Every set of accounts is individual to the parish
• Every set of accounts is individual to the Hon
  Treasurer

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The strengths of the current system

• Strong form of parochial financial governance
• Annual Easter Vestry
• Annual elections
• Annual financial report
• Annual report is audited/certified
• Hundreds of Treasurers give their time and
  expertise
• The system works

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Opportunity

• To develop the template for parochial reporting
  to be consistent with new reporting requirements
• To develop a C of I model to assist in parochial
  record keeping manual or IT
• To develop an IT tool to assist in producing
  reports and returns

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Process

• RCB has been looking at packs
• Has looked at Data Developments (Finance
  Coordinator) and GCD Technologies (Omega Church)
• Each of these has agreed to develop a C of I
  specific pack
• Hope to have both available by end of November

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Support for SVs

• Model for parish registration
• Model for statement of SV Charity purpose
• Model for statement of public benefit
• Model for annual statement of activity
• Guidelines for the use of parochial treasurers
• Models for compliant parish accounts
• Specialised software to deliver compliance

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Accounts for Charities

• Charities law in NI specifies increasing
  accounting reporting requirements dependent on
  the income of the charity/parish
• Charities legislation will not have a major
  impact on way most parishes currently prepare
  accounts
• Fund Accounting is good practice and also
  becoming a legal requirement
• Fund accounting would be sensible for all
  parishes

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Fund Accounting

• Definition Method of accounting and
  presentation whereby assets and liabilities are
  grouped according to the purpose for which they
  are to be used
• Funds of parish can be grouped into 2 main
  headings
• Unrestricted Funds
• Restricted Funds
• Unrestricted funds are available for spending on
  all the business of the parish
• Restricted funds are for a specific purpose, and
  must be used for that purpose eg organ fund/
  upkeep of graveyard etc
• The accounts must clearly distinguish between the
  receipt and expenditure of the two kinds of funds

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Fund Accounting

• A parish will have to be able to assign each
  transaction to a restricted or unrestricted
  fund
• Most transactions will be in relation to
  unrestricted funds
• The accounts of the parish will have to show the
  income and expenditure per fund and balance per
  fund at the year end
• This is not unduly difficult, and in practice is
  how the funds will have been managed anyway

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Sample Income Expenditure Account
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Sample Fund Accounts
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Reports needed

• Parochial report to Easter Vestry
• As now, or could be adapted to match the report
  to the NICC
• Parochial report to Diocese
• As now
• Report to NICC
• Fund accounts

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Reports planned for C of I software

• Parochial reports for Select Vestry
• Sundry reports which can be tailored to
  requirements of parish select vestries
• Wide range of reports
• Diocesan report
• Specific report per diocese
• Report for Charity Commission
• Standard C of I format compliant with NICC
• Simple fund accounting based report

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Report for Charity Commission

• Required by new charities legislation
• Fund accounting based
• Standard format for C of I parishes
• Summary of all income expenditure for financial
  year
• Simple, familiar descriptions

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Report for Charity Commission

• Both recommended accounting packs will
  incorporate the standard C of I report
• A manual version of C of I report will also be
  made available
• Report is simple, easy to understand format
• RCB will produce report submission guidelines

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Questions to the panel
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Church of Ireland Public Benefit 1 draft

• The prime object of the Church of Ireland is the
• advancement of the Christian religion.
• Engagement with society as a whole and
• support for those needing help is fundamental
• to the practical delivery of the tenets of
• Christianity.

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Church of Ireland Public Benefit 2 draft

• The Church, through its members and the disposal
  of its physical assets, provides
• A community building and enhancing focus, through
  the provision of facilities and support for
  social networks
• Active promotion of community harmony and
  responsible citizenship
• Support for the poor, the ill and the suffering
• Religious education, and active involvement in
  the provision of general education
• Support for the disadvantaged and for alienated
  members of society
• Support for development and the relief of poverty
  and disease in disadvantaged areas of the world
• The stewardship of buildings of general
  architectural and historical interest
• The promotion of the arts through music and other
  media

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Church of Ireland Public Benefit 3 draft

• The Church of Ireland is open to all.
• The support networks and activities of the
• Church reach out to a wide cross section of
• society, and the facilities provided by the
• Church are utilised by people from all
• backgrounds.

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• Thank you for coming
• Safe journey home