Sayer Vincent launches free webinar programme for 2022 to support charity finance professionals
Sayer Vincent, the award-winning firm of charity auditors and advisers, has launched its 2022 webinar series on popular charity finance topics for professionals in charities and other social purpose organisations. The programme starts on 4th February with a Preparing for your audit webinar offering top tips and practical advice to help charity finance teams (and also trustees) prepare for their audits.
Subsequent sessions will focus on Gift aid; Building a resilient charity; Employment tax; Trustees responsibilities; Financial governance; Reporting on sustainability; Introduction to SORP and Collaborative working.
These webinars will be highly informative, easily accessible and will give attendees practical advice and knowledge to use in their daily roles. Each session will be hosted by a chairperson from Sayer Vincent and will include a presentation, live Q&As and webinar handouts. For those that can’t attend the live event, each webinar will be available on demand for a limited period afterwards.
Charity Commission[i] figures in October highlighted that nearly all charities (91%) in England and Wales have experienced some negative impact from Covid-19. The consequences have predominantly impacted charities’ services and delivery (85%), alongside their financial position (72%) and staffing and governance (66%).
Other research by the Covid-19 Support Fund[ii], suggests the impact of Covid will be felt into 2022. An estimated 2.2 million givers intend to cut back the amount they donate post-pandemic, while around 1.6 million have already had to cancel a direct debit to charity.
Jonathan Orchard, Partner at Sayer Vincent said, “The impact of the pandemic on the charities has been hugely varied depending on the type of charity and the nature of the work they undertake. Looking forwards the common success factor is going to be the ability to adapt and to cope with uncertainty.
Our series of webinars are designed to help charity finance staff and trustees to navigate this uncertainty and build a resilient charity sector. We are committed to sharing our knowledge and learning and we encourage you to sign up for these sessions.”
The full line of webinars is below:
- Preparing for your audit – 4 February – Top tips and practical advice for finance team (and trustees) – to help the charity prepare for audit
- Gift Aid – 11 February – A session to help navigate the rules of Gift Aid and ensure understanding of the key requirements to help charities claim with confidence
- Building a resilient charity – 18 February – What are the hallmarks of a ‘resilient charity’ and what practical steps can all charities take to move towards this?
- Employment tax – 25 February – An introduction to the key rules around employment taxes including determining employment status and the requirements of the off payroll working rules (IR35).
- Trustee responsibilities – 4 March – An ideal induction for new trustees or a refresher for existing trustees, explaining the responsibilities and duties of the role.
- Financial governance – 18 March – An effective charity is a well governed charity. This session will give practical tips, focusing on where finance can take the lead on its application of the Charity Code of Governance
- Reporting on sustainability – 1 April – How should charities use their external reporting to focus more on sustainability factors – including environmental and social reporting?
- Introduction to SORP – 8 April – This session will focus on the key principles of SORP and the elements that may pose the biggest difficulties for charities
- Collaborative working – 29 April – A look at some of the different models for collaborative working to deliver activities and share back-office functions, covering tax and VAT implications. Plus, examples relating to joint bids as well as sharing back-office services.
For more information and to book onto these webinars visit: http://www.sayervincent.co.uk/events/our-seminars/
[i] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-commission-covid-19-survey-2021/covid-19-survey-2021
[ii] https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/04/26/charities-predict-post-pandemic-decline-in-giving/