The Small Charity Finance List
Below a list of all the finance resources for small charities that we signpost to regularly.
Financial governance
- Charity Commission The Essential Trustee
- Charity Commission 5-minute guide to finance
- Charity Commission Financial Resilience Toolkit
- ICAEW Free Online Trustee Finance Training
Test your knowledge
- Charity Commission Trustee quiz 2024
- Charity Commission Financial Resilience quick check
- Charity Finance Group Checklists
Helpful resources for Trustees
- Association of Chairs guide on financial leadership in small charities
- ACEVO’s A Gentle Guide for the Non-Financial Charity Trustee
- Charity Finance Group - Essential Finance for Trustees
Helpful resources relating to Treasurers
- Charity Finance Group role description
- The Charity Treasurer’s Handbook
- #CountMeIn
- Honorary Treasurer's Forum
Helpful example committee terms of references
Financial management
An overview of the finance cycle
For budgets and cashflow forecasts
- National Lottery Community Fund – Full Cost Recovery
- Bayes Business School – Cost Recovery
- Our blog on cashflow forecasts
For annual accounts for periods starting November 2016 to or before 1 January 2026
- Charity reports and accounts: November 2016 to before 1 January 2026
- Charities SORP (FRS 102) second edition for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019 and before 1 January 2026
For annual accounts for periods starting November 2016 to or before 1 January 2026
- Charity Commission Receipts and Payments Annual Accounts Template
- Charity Commission Accruals Accounts Template
- Charity Commission example accounts
- Charities SORP 2026 for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026
To help work out what type of Annual Accounts to prepare
- Threshold changes at a glance
- Charity accounts: rules for trusts and unincorporated associations
- Charity accounts: rules for Charitable Incorporated Organisations
- Charity accounts: rules for charitable companies
- Online Charity Commission diagnostic
- A technical note on converting from cash to accruals accounting for small charities
- A technical note on converting from accruals to cash accounts
For an independent examination or audit
- Charity Commission guidance for Trustees on independent examinations
- Charity Commission guidance to Independent Examiners on reporting matters of material significance
- Association of Independent Examiners
For a good set of financial controls
- Charity Commission financial controls guidance
- Charity Commission financial controls checklist
- NCVO Financial procedures manual
For a reserves policy
- Charity Commission CC19 Reserves and Resilience
- Example reserves policy from the Charity Commission for a smallish charity (£500kpa)
- Sayer Vincent’s Reserves Made Simple
- IVAR’s report on the benefits of strategic reserves management
- Bond’s report on building reserves for financial resilience
- Charity leaders talking about reserves
- CAF's approach to treasury management and reserves
For tax stuff
- Claiming gift aid as a charity
- Charities and Tax
- Charity Tax Group
- Charity Commission CC35, Charities Trading and Tax
- Sayer Vincent’s Gift Aid Made Simple
- Employer's National Insurance Allowance
- Charitable Business Rate Relief
- VAT
For banking
For payroll
- To register with HMRC as an employer
- To set up payroll
- To read up on the changes to the employer's national insurance from 6 April 2025
- NCVO guidance pages
- Charity Commission guidance on managing financial difficulties
- Charity Commission guidance on filing serious incident reports
- Arts Council England Managing Financial Difficulties
- ACCA Going concern and the alternative basis of accounts preparation
- Saffery Champness note on on assessing going concern status
- The Decelerator
- HMRC's redundancy calculator
Build your financial confidence
Where to start with asking smarter questions
- Charity Commission 15 finance questions
- Lloyds Bank Foundation’s Guide to Organisational Resilience
- New Philanthropy Capital’s The Little Blue Book
- Our guide on financial resilience leadership skills
Where to find free and affordable charity finance training
Small Print
- Working in the commons At Embrace Finance we believe the world’s problems are too tricky to resolve without sharing and learning together. Our resources are provided on a Creative Commons License basis. Please read these terms when using https://www.embracefinance.org.uk/open-working-commitment
- Disclaimer Any guidance provided herewith is illustrative only and is not intended to replace professional advice. Please consult an appropriately qualified professional adviser as appropriate.
- Third Party Disclaimer When working with Third Parties the usual caveats apply. Always due your due diligence.


