A guide to charity accounts

This guidance sets out the legal requirements for preparing charity accounts and getting those accounts externally scrutinised. This guidance is designed for charity trustees, staff, independent examiners, auditors, and advisors.

The information in this guide is relevant to all charities.

Reading this guidance will help you to:

• Decide what kind of accounts you need to prepare
• Understand the different types of external scrutiny
• Set your financial year-end date
• Understand what you need to send to OSCR each year