---
title: "Choosing an accountant for your charity | CharityCompare"
description: "What UK charity trustees need to know before appointing an accountant — SORP accounts, independent examination vs audit thresholds, and Gift Aid"
source: https://charitycompare.pages.dev/for-charities/choosing-an-accountant
retrieved: 2026-08-23T03:22:01.518Z
license: "Charity data © Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0"
---

Quick answer

Confirm SORP experience specifically (not just general practice), check whether your income requires
independent examination (over £25,000) or a full audit (over £1m, or over £250,000 with assets over
£3.26m), and ask how they'll handle Gift Aid and restricted fund reporting. A generalist accountant can
suit a small charity well; anything nearing the audit threshold benefits from real sector experience.

## SORP: why charity accounts look different

Charities over £250,000 income (or any charitable company) must follow the Charities SORP — a Statement of Financial Activities instead of a profit and loss, income and spending split between restricted, unrestricted, and endowment funds, and a trustees' annual report explaining public benefit. An accountant used to ordinary company accounts can get this wrong; it's worth confirming SORP experience specifically, not just general practice experience.

## Independent examination or audit?

Income over £25,000 needs an independent examination; over £1m (or over £250,000 with assets over £3.26m) needs a full statutory audit by a registered auditor. Over £250,000, the examiner must hold a recognised accountancy qualification. Booking the right level — not paying audit prices where examination suffices — is a straightforward saving trustees often miss.

## Gift Aid: often the accountant earns their fee here alone

Gift Aid adds 25% to eligible individual donations and claims can be backdated up to four years. The Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme also tops up small cash and contactless collections without individual declarations. A first review with a charity-experienced accountant regularly uncovers unclaimed back years — sometimes funding the engagement for a decade.

## What to ask before you appoint

Ask directly: how many charity clients do you act for, do you prepare SORP-compliant accounts in-house, what independent examination or audit experience do you hold, and how do you handle restricted fund reporting? A generalist accountant can often manage smaller charities well — but for anything approaching the audit threshold, sector experience is worth paying for.

**In short:** Confirm SORP and independent-examination experience before you appoint — general practice accountants can file a charity's numbers, but sector-specific knowledge is what protects trustees and unlocks Gift Aid you may be missing.

Compare firms

## Find an accountant who already works with charities

Pick My Accountant runs an independent directory of UK accountancy firms, including a dedicated guide to
[accountants and independent examiners experienced with charity SORP accounts](https://pickmyaccountant.co.uk/accountants/for/charities/). It's a separate service from CharityCompare, run by the same team, and follows the same rule we do —
no charity or firm can pay for a better ranking.

## Common questions

Does a small charity need an accountant at all? + Charities under £25,000 income don't need an independent examination, but must still keep proper records and file receipts-and-payments accounts. Many small charities use an accountant just for Gift Aid setup and an annual check — a modest cost for real trustee peace of mind.

Is a CIC treated the same as a charity for accounting? + No — Community Interest Companies file ordinary company accounts plus a CIC34 community-interest report and pay corporation tax like any company, with no Gift Aid or charity tax reliefs. If reliefs matter, charitable status (or a charity/CIC pairing) changes the accounting conversation entirely.

Can trustees do the bookkeeping themselves and just use an accountant for the year-end? + Yes, and it's common for smaller charities — trustees or a volunteer treasurer keep day-to-day records, and a specialist accountant prepares the SORP-compliant accounts and independent examination file annually. Get the record-keeping format agreed with the accountant first so year-end isn't a reconstruction exercise.