Statement of Trustees Responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Strategic Report, the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and charity and of application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the group for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

  • select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

  • make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

  • state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

  • prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Financial statements are published on the charity’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements, which may vary from legislation in other jurisdictions. The maintenance and integrity of the charity’s website is the responsibility of the trustees. The trustees’ responsibility also extends to the ongoing integrity of the financial statements contained therein.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Company Secretary

Vincent Collins (resigned 31 July 2019) Sarah Kucera (appointed 27 November 2019)

Chief Executive Officer

Liz Warner

Registered office and principal address:

1st Floor 89 Albert Embankment  London, SE1 7TP

Statutory Auditor

BDO LLP 55 Baker Street London, W1U 7EU

Honorary Accountants

EY LLP 1 More London Place London SE1 2AF

Bankers

National Westminster Bank plc Bloomsbury Parr’s Branch P.O. Box 158 214 High Holborn London WC1V 7BX

Adam & Company plc 25 St Andrew Square Edinburgh EH2 1AF

Investment Advisors

Tilney Asset Management Ltd 6 New Street Square New Fetter Lane London EC4A 3BF

Cambridge Associates Ltd 80 Victoria Street Cardinal Place London SW1E 5JL

Custodians

State Street Trustees Ltd 525 Ferry Road Edinburgh EH5 2AW

Northern Trust Fiduciary Services (Ireland) Ltd Georges Court 54 – 62 Townsend Street Dublin 2 Ireland

Solicitors

Bates Wells Braithwaite LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE

Harbottle & Lewis LLP Hanover House 14 Hanover Square London, W1S 1HP

Honorary Solicitors

CMS Cameron McKenna LLP Cannon Place 78 Cannon Street London, EC4N 6AF

Linklaters LLP One Silk Street London, EC2Y 8HQ

Company Number:

Charity Projects: 1806414 Comic Relief Ltd: 01967154 Charity Numbers (Charity projects) 326568 (England and Wales) SC039730 (Scotland)

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT

OPINION

We have audited the financial statements of Charity Projects (“the Parent Charitable Company”) and its subsidiaries (“the Group”) for the year ended 31 July 2019 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated and Parent Charitable Company Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

  • give a true and fair view of the state of the Group’s and of the Parent Charitable Company’s affairs as at 31 July 2019 and of the Group’s income and expenditure and application of resources for the year then ended;

  • have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

  • have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006, as amended in 2010.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Group and the Parent Charitable Company in accordance with the ethical requirements relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where:

  • the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or

  • the Trustees have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the Group or the Parent Charitable Company’s ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The other information comprises: the Annual Report. The Trustees are responsible for the other information.

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

  • the information given in the Trustees’ Report, which includes the Directors’ Report and the Strategic report prepared for the purposes of Company Law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

  • the Strategic report and the Directors’ Report, which are included in the Trustees’ Report, have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Group and the Parent Charitable Company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatement in the Strategic report or the Trustee’s report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion;

  • proper and adequate accounting records have not been kept by the Parent Charitable Company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

  • the Parent Charitable Company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

  • certain disclosures of Directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

  • we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determines is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the Group’s and the Parent Charitable Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the Group or the Parent Charitable Company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located at the Financial Reporting Council’s (“FRC’s”) website at:

https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities(opens in new window). This description forms part of our auditor's report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the Charitable Company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the Charitable Company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Charitable Company’s members and trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charitable Company, the Charitable Company’s members as a body and the Charitable Company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Fiona Condron (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of BDO LLP London Date 21 December 2019

BDO LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales (with registered number  OC305127)