A warning has been issued to charities not to only rely on accounting software for their record keeping.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has warned charities that “some charities using commercial accounting software have submitted accounts” to the regulator “in formats more suited to non-charitable entities”.

It added: “While accounting software can be helpful for recording transactions and producing reports, it does not always produce accounts that comply with the legal requirements for charities.”

“Trustees remain responsible for ensuring the accounts are prepared in the correct format and comply with Scottish charity accounting regulations before they are submitted to OSCR.”

The advice has been given in the OSCR’s latest guidance around good financial record keeping.

This also urges charities to ensure they keep records that are appropriate to their size and complexity of their transactions.

It also warns that “problems can arise when only one person has control of the accounting records”.

“All charity trustees share collective responsibility for the accounting records. It is therefore important that all trustees have a basic understanding of how the charity’s finances are managed,” said the OSCR.

“It is good practice for someone other than the person keeping the accounting records to understand how they are kept, and for regular checks to be carried out on financial records and transactions. This helps reduce the risk of errors, loss of access, or over-reliance on one individual.”

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