Incidence and perceptions of “qualified” accounts filed by small charities

Charities filing accounts with the Charity Commission for England and Wales have been asked since 2014 whether their accounts are qualified. It was found that 96% of charities (£100k-250k income) stating that their accounts were qualified had mis-answered the question. This was explored further with charity personnel and funders supporting small charities: the notion of qualified accounts was found to be misunderstood both by operational charities and by their funders. This raises issues regarding use of data on the Charity Commission’s Register and for charity regulation, as the Commission indicates that qualified reports are a trigger for possible regulatory investigation.