Trustee Week

Trustee week is an opportunity to celebrate the good work that all our Trustees do.

From a Charities perspective there are lots of things to think about when considering what you need from your board, have you done a skills matrix? What skills do you need to have represented? What time do the trustees have available?

Have you considered if your Trustees are well placed to serve your charity? charity training is one consideration here. Having well informed Trustees who are aware of the latest developments in the sector is crucial. It enables the Trustee Board to provide suitable challenge to the management team and to be aware of the charities position within the wider environment across the region. This is particularly important given the increased budgetary pressure and mounting scrutiny that charities are operating under.

Furthermore, Trustees come from all walks of life, with varying levels of finance and charity experience. Therefore, it can be very useful to run training sessions to help equip trustees with the knowledge they need to provide effective leadership of the Charity and provide appropriate challenge to management.

We work with our clients to provide training to their trustees where a need is identified. Training could include such things as:

  • The key principles of effective governance
  • Duties as charity trustees
  • Developments in the not-for-profit sector
  • Budget setting and monitoring
  • Financial Planning
  • Understanding accounts

From the 1 November 2023 ICAEW members acting as Trustees of Charities have specific CPD requirements, the ICAEW has a self-assessment tool that can help you assess what you need to do, we would recommend that you complete this self-assessment as soon as possible to allow you ample time to complete the required CPD. A typical annual requirement for a trustee not working as an accountant would be:

  • a minimum of one hour of ethics training; and
  • ICAEW’s CPD training for charity trustees (to launch in 2023) or equivalent learning that meets similar learning outcomes.

They are also required to keep records and make them available to ICAEW on request.