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Statement of accounts

5e.2.1.1 Annual statement of accounts 
A statement of accounts must be prepared annually and be independently examined or audited as appropriate in accordance with these rules and the separate Guidance [POR 5e.3].  

The annual statement of accounts must account for all monies received or paid on behalf of the Group, District or County. As noted below in POR 5e.4, this must include all sections, teams and sub-teams within the Group, District or County. 

5e.2.1.2 Submission of annual reports and accounts
The Trustee Board must ensure that signed copies of the Trustees’ approved annual report and accounts, are submitted within the 14 days following the relevant AGM at which the Trustees’ annual report and accounts were received and considered.

  1. Groups submit to the District. Districts must advise Groups where Reports and Accounts must be submitted to - these will normally be the District Treasurer and the District Trustee Board Administration [see POR 5b.3.3.13] (in Counties with no Districts, Groups submit to the County Treasurer and the County Trustee Board Administration [see POR 5b.3.3.13])
  2. Districts submit to the County. Counties must advise Districts where Reports and Accounts must be submitted to - these will normally be the County Treasurer and the County Trustee Board Administration [see POR 5b.3.3.13].
  3. All Counties ([NI] Districts) must submit to UK Headquarters (email the copy of the annual report and accounts to [email protected]). This also applies to the Overseas Territories.
  4. Counties in England, including the Crown Dependencies, must also submit to their Regional Lead Volunteer
  5. Districts in Northern Ireland must also submit to Northern Ireland Headquarters
  6. Regions in Scotland must also submit to Scouts Scotland
  7. Areas in Wales must also submit to ScoutsCymru

5e.2.1.3 Reporting to Regulators

  1. In countries other than Scotland, where a Group, District or County is a registered charity, it must submit a copy of its Trustees’ Annual Report and accounts to the appropriate charity regulator (see POR 5a.1.2) within ten months of the end of the financial year.
    The only exception is for registered charities in England and Wales with an annual income of less than £25,000 – these are not required to submit these documents.
  2. In Scotland, if the Group, District or Region is a registered charity, the Trustees’ Annual Report and Statement of Account must be submitted to the regulator within nine months of the financial year end, and must include:
    • a Trustees’ Annual Report
    • an Independent Examiners’ Report
    • a Receipts and Payments Account
    • a Statement of Balances (including a list of assets and liabilities)
    • Notes to the Accounts.  

5e.2.1.4 Restricted & Permanent Endowment Funds

  1. If the Group, District or County has either restricted or permanent endowment funds then these (and associated income and expenditure and assets and liabilities) need to be shown separately in the accounts.   
  2. Restricted funds are those which the Trustees can only use for a specified purpose and they cannot change that purpose without approval (normally from the person(s) who provided the funds).   
  3. A permanent endowment is an asset, for example a property which must not generally be sold or disposed of.   
    The rules regarding utilisation of income generated from permanent endowments or the circumstances where it may be possible to dispose of permanent endowments are not straightforward.   
    There is guidance on the Charity Commission website but Trustees may also wish to take professional legal advice. The particulars of the Trustees in whom such assets are vested also must be shown.  

5e.2.1.5 Annual statement model templates (except Scotland) 
The annual statement model templates for use in countries other than Scotland are available for download from Accounting and Reporting. These models are suitable for:  

  1. receipts and payments accounts for a single fund unit, such as when there are no special funds whose use is restricted (see more detail) 
  2. receipts and payments accounts for a multi fund unit, such as when where there are special funds in addition to a general fund (see more detail) 

For accruals (SORP) accounts, guidance and templates are available from www.charitysorp.org 

It is expected that most Districts and Groups with gross income below £250,000 in the year will choose the Receipts and Payments basis.  

Based on historical experience most Counties are compelled, or choose, to follow the accruals accounts basis.  In addition, Districts and Groups with high levels of income or particularly complex operations may opt for the Accruals Accounts basis.   

5e.2.1.6 Annual statement of account model templates (Scotland)
The annual Statement of Account in Scotland must be in the format of one of two model annual statements available from Scouts Scotland. These models are suitable for Receipts and Payments accounts and Fully Accrued (SORP) accounts.  

The appropriate model may depend upon the gross income in the financial year and whether the Group, District or Region has any special funds whose use is restricted to specific purposes rather than the general purposes of the Group, District or Region.

5e.2.2 Trustees’ Annual Report 

5e.2.2.1 Content 

  1. All Groups, Districts and Counties must produce a Trustees’ Annual Report. The content of the Trustees’ Annual Report will depend to an extent on the requirements of the charity regulator (POR 5a.1.2). 
  2. In the past there has been significant variety in the level and type of information included within this reporting. The SORP, while only applying to accruals accounts, seeks to address this by suggesting standard headings that should be included in the Trustees’ Annual report.  
    The headings relevant to most Groups, Districts and Counties are:  
    • Reference and administration details   
    • Structure, governance and management  
    • Objectives and activities  
    • Achievements and performance  
    • Financial review  
    • Plans for future period and other optional information  
  3. The Specimen Trustees’ Annual Report uses these headings and it is recommended that these are used by all Groups, Districts and Counties whether or not they are registered charities and whether they are producing receipts and payments or accruals accounts.  
  4. The names of all Trustees must be shown and where they have not served throughout the financial year the date of their appointment or resignation must be given.  If any Trustees are also members of sub-teams of the Trustee Board this should be noted by their names e.g. Chair of the Fundraising Sub-team. 

5e.2.2.2 Presentation of accounts
The accounts presented must include all receipts and payments other than where it is clear that the Group, District or County is acting purely in an agency capacity for another part of the movement and as such never “owns” the money concerned¹. 

An agency arrangement occurs when one party (the agent) makes a payment to a third party on behalf of somebody else, with the explicit understanding that the agent is not the ultimate beneficiary of the payment.  A key indicator of acting in purely in an agency capacity is that the relevant Group, District or County only makes payment to the extent that amounts are received and has no responsibility to ensure that this occurs. In that context: 

  1. Membership Subscriptions are NOT collected on an agency basis as amounts levied by District, County or Country or UK Headquarters are obligations of the relevant entity and are payable regardless of whether they are collected from the level down. This may also apply to other situations where the Group, District or County is invoiced for a payment and is obligated regardless of whether it is recovering the costs from elsewhere. In these cases, the receipts and payments must be presented “gross”. 
  2. There may however be other arrangements which are made on an agency basis. For example, for a District Camp where each young person pays the camp fee to the Group who passes on the fees to the District but in the event of non-payment it would be the individual who is liable directly to the District for the fees.