New Customer Portal in the Registry of Friendly Societies

New Customer Portal in the Registry of Friendly Societies

The Registry of Friendly Societies (RFS) is responsible for the efficient and effective registration and general regulation of over 1,000 Friendly Societies, Industrial and Provident Societies and Trade Unions in Ireland.

The RFS first foray into an online presence occurred in 2012 so, the launch this month of a new customer portal is a timely and welcome enhancement to all users.  The portal will enable a substantial level of business to be carried out online such as:

• creating a new entity; and
• filing Annual Return and amendments.

Apart from the ease of online filing, Users will be able to avail of reduced fees for online filings.  Quite how valuable the reduction of fees will be to Users is questionable given the total average annual filing fees paid to the RFS appears to hover around €46,000 to €50,000 per annum.  As my Grandmother always said “Every mickle makes a muckle” so, improving filing capabilities whilst also providing for some cost savings can only be a good thing.

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New Charity Governance Code

Nathan Lemon (unsplash)

New Charity Governance Code

The Charity Regulator launched a new governance code for charities last week. It sets out a basic standard made up of 6 governance principles i.e. Advancing Charitable Purpose, Behaving with Integrity, Leading People, Exercising Control, Working Effectively and being Accountable and Transparent.  There are 32 core standards outlined in putting the six principles in place with additional standards for more complex charities

On reviewing the standard it might appear detailed, however, it won’t be daunting for most well-run charities who will already have processes in place to deal most of the core standards e.g. managing conflicts of interest, financial controls and hold regular board meetings etc.

Charities will be expected to be compliant with the code from 2020 and begin reporting on their compliance in 2021 which gives organisations ample time to review and implement the code.  The Charities Regulator has wisely identified that the key to implementation is to ensure board engagement. Directors must review and approve the charities implementation, therefore by supporting its implementation, challenges can be addressed more readily. 

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books of account

All companies are required to keep adequate accounting records but, what precisely does “adequate accounting records” mean?

Adequate accounting records are records which:

• correctly record and explain transactions of a company;
• detail assets, liabilities, financial position, profit or loss of a company; and
• enable directors to prepare annual financial statements.

The type of information which must be contained within the accounting records should cover information such as outlined below.

• All monies received and spent
• All assets and debts
• All purchases and sales
• Records of stock held
• Records of services purchased or provided
• Record of all goods bought and sold, including a record of itemised invoices

Time is money so, handling all of the above personally may not be the most cost effective option for a company. 

Consider:

-          having a qualified book-keeper (part-time or full-time)

-          retaining information in a simple format - does not have to be a costly bespoke piece of software.

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