News digest 21/10/16: More than 1,500 charities risk missing accounts deadline

The latest governance stories in the news

More than 1,500 charities risk missing accounts deadline

With two weeks until the 31 October deadline for filing accounts with the Charity Commission, the regulator has revealed that there are 1,579 charities yet to file.

These relate to charities which last reported an income of more than £250,000 and have a financial year ending December 2015.

‘Failing to file, or filing late, can affect your charity’s reputation as well as jeopardise public trust in charities more generally,’ the Commission said. ‘The Commission takes failure to file very seriously and will take action where necessary.’

The Commission also shared some of the reasons charities have given for not filing on time with Civil Society Media, including:

• ‘I cannot tell you by birthdate it may be used by unscrupulous people’ (birthdate required for password access)
• ‘I want to unsubscribe from the Charity Commission and I want my money back’ 
• Set of ‘accounts’ submitted with one line: ‘accounts to follow’
• ‘We don’t know our charity number to file accounts’ (they provided the charity number in their email)
• ‘We can’t file, we are too busy’
• ‘When you say you need accounts do you mean bank statements?’
• ‘I have already filed with HMRC why are you bothering me?’
• ‘I know I have made a mess of the charity annual return three times in two days, but there was really good TV show that distracted me’.

 

Slow progress in gender diversity for equity groups and hedge funds

11.5% of partners at UK private equity groups and hedge funds were women in 2015, compared to 10% in 2014, according to research by executive search firm DHR International.

DHR’s study shows in 2015, 405 partners, out of 3,509, were women. In 2014, there were 378 female partners out of 3,666. The figures show slow progress being made, although any progress is encouraging.

The data was compiled from the Financial Conduct Authority via a Freedom of Information request.

 

European Commission considering unitary corporate tax rules

The European Commission is planning to relaunch proposals to create an overarching set of rules for calculating taxable profits. It would cover corporations with annual turnover of more than €750 million and which are tax-resident in a European country.

The proposed legislation’s intention is to curb profit-shifting by multinational corporations – this is commonly used to reduce tax liabilities on income.