Thoughts from Dovetail on the not for profit sector and conclusions from our work
We hope all our readers know that the standard rate of VAT goes back up to 17.5% as on 1.1.2010?
Always willing to help organisations with this.
And would be interested to know if any with VAT as a net cost taking the opportunity to save 2.5% off the top by bringing purchases forward, given balances are earning less than this?
We at Dovetail keep up to date – and “chapeau” as they say in the cycling world to Sandy Adirondack for her latest charity legal update briefing.
Over-arching impression is how complex finance and other legal matters have become with the 2006 Charities Acts and 2006 Companies Act – if your income is above, say £1m, no problems, you just have to comply with all of it and should have be able to pay staff with competence to know about this stuff – or to pay us to help you.
Below that level, it is nighmare-ish, with different requirements kicking in at various levels of income and assets held. As an example, charitable companies and all those registered as charities have to produce a SOFA (statement of financial activities) once income exceeds £250,000. But between £250,000 and £500,000 do you need natural categories or functional categories on your SOFA? !! And the dates issues are also complex, with Charity Commission using 1 April and Companies House using 6 April for starting dates you could easily submit the wrong format to Companies House.
Simplification? I don’t think so!
And that is only accounting – add HR, fundraising, Tax and VAT, ICT and other issues and how does anyone manage to run a small charitable organisation these days?
Dovetail has some answers and so watch this space!
A Radio 4 item yesterday about the British Library staff having to learn to use green screen Amstrads, alongside paper diaries and later materials to read Barbara Castle’s diaries gave me pause for thought!
And not many have the luxury of being Tony Benn using paper based typing or audio cassette transcription – see www.tonybenn.com/archive.html
A number of our clients have data going way back (2000 and before) and are either in a bind where materials need to be continually updated or letf “as was” with the risk that technology, especially software and storage devices, moves on so far that the data becomes inaccessible.
We ourselves have data doing back to 1994 which has to be read on legacy machines – work in progress here and with one client to resolve these issues
As April 1st 2009 is soon to be upon us, welcome to April Financial Fools day 
Part of me applauds this naming as a mutual; Dunfermline Building Society is digested by the Nationwide, showing up what seems on the outside to be a failure of supervision by the FSA (Financial Services Agency). But then, Dunfermline Building Society was a provider of social housing, and the UK needs more social housing.
Similarly, bankers and banks are a target for the 1 April 2009 demo in various parts of London. On the other hand some of those women and men have given or finessed donations to the charitable agencies that some of you work for, and that a number of your beneficiaries depend on.
Overall it is clear the boundaries of sensible risk have been crossed and some over rewarded for failure.
But the private sector is one of the three UK sectors, one of the pillars that supports UK society, and anything more than specifically selective opprobrium will make us all the poorer.
Recent work with a client helping them to decide if they should register for VAT or not (they did!) , aside from the benefits of doing so reminded me of two interesting issues;
• some voluntary and community organisations register and end up with HMRC paying them – especially if they have significant zero rated sales outputs – e.g. publications
• the partial exemption apportionment concerning claiming back VAT on overheads can make significant differences when a significant proportion of the organisation’s overheads are non staff costs and subject to VAT
And reminds me that all clients coming up to audit should make sure that a VAT check is part of the audit work if in any way relevant – for example the coming removal of the VAT concessions on staff hire for temporary workers, which takes effect from 1 April 2009
Being Chair of the London Cycling Campaign today – more environmental commitment
Mucho palmarès to Koy Thompson, the LCC Chief Executive for bring LCC through some times and leading the LCC to the stratosphere of exercise fior cycling as a health, transport and environmental solution!”
I’m doing the last day of our Lottery funded Full Cost recovery training tomorrow – in Leeds. And the couple of clients who are using the new version of the model seem to be doing well with it.
Be good to hear from anyone else using it to compare notes
From my coffee break this am, good to see someone is having fun with technology …………..
Extreme Shepherding
Still musing on the real effects and causes of the 2008 – 2009 – 200? recession – and its impact on fundraising – good to see the Bank of England putting £75bn into the economy to “get lending moving again” – but why the fuss?
Anyone who studied economics earlier then 1990 will know that this practice was commonplace as a way of adjusting the economy – and it has been suggested that the fall in the oil price will put £1000bn into the economies of the oil importing companies.
all contributing to the thought that the pain felt by some from contracting sales and redundancies is matched by others taking opportunities – which is where fundraisers should be just now!
Interesting issue as to how we exhibit our environmental commitment – I mean we get on with it quietly by cycling, recycling and reusing.
But should we go further than simply having the MD turn up on his Brompton when visiting all and sundry?
All contributions welcome!
