evaluateCC8 Internal Financial Controls for Charities

CC8 Internal Financial Controls for Charities ChecklistJuly 2012

Editable version of the checklist (Microsoft Word format)

Full colour version of the checklist (PDF format)

Contents

 A Self-assessment checklist

 B Some key issues,monitoring arrangements and risk of fraud

 C Inco me

 D Purchases and payments

 E Assets and investments

A.Self-assessment checklist

The questions in this checkl ist are designed to help charity trustees and theiradvisors evaluate the charity’s performance against the legal requirements and goodpractice recommendations set out in our guidance on internal financial controls forcharities.Trustees should review their charity’s performance at least once a year.Each of the questions on the checkl ist l inks to a paragraph of the guidance,wherefurther detai ls can be found.Not al l the controls l isted wi l l be appropriate for al lcharities, for example,where a section of the checkl ist deals with an area of activitythat the charity does not undertake then that section of the checkl ist wi l l not apply.Charities must always complywith legal requirements and these requirements areidentified by L in the checkl ist.A‘yes’answer for good practice recommendationsdoes not mean there is no scope for further improvement.A‘no’answer does notalways indicate a problem. It may be that the charity has not put in place a particularcontrol because the risk involved is smal l and the potential loss is acceptable,giventhe cost that would be involved in putting in place stronger internal controls.Final ly, the answers in the checkl ist should be based on the trustees’knowledge ofwhat actual ly happens in the charity and not what they expect to happen.Having aninternal control in place is only part of the picture. It must operate in practice to beeffective.

B.Some key issues,monitoring arrangements and risk offrau d

C Income

D Purchases and payments

E Assets and investments