The Charities (Amendment) Act 2024 modernises Ireland's charity regulations, enhancing trustee accountability, financial transparency, and regulatory oversight, ensuring a more trustworthy, well-governed sector, writes Keith Doyle
The Charities (Amendment) Act 2024 brings in a variety of changes aimed at modernising the regulatory framework for charities in Ireland. These updates place a strong focus on improving governance, transparency, and accountability across the sector.
Key reforms for charity trustees
One of the most notable changes introduced by the Act relates to the responsibilities and obligations of charity trustees.
Trustees are seen as central figures within any charity, and the new regulations place greater emphasis on ensuring they understand their duties.
The Act formalises the expectations for trustees, including the requirement to act in the best interest of the charity, maintain proper oversight of the charity's activities, and avoid conflicts of interest. Additionally, trustees are required to have a clear understanding of their charity’s financial situation, ensuring funds are used appropriately to achieve the charity's objectives.
To support this, the Charities Regulator will now have expanded powers to investigate trustee conduct and hold them accountable if they fail to meet their obligations.
In cases of serious misconduct, trustees may face removal from their position, fines, or even prosecution. This shift is aimed at protecting the reputation of the sector by ensuring all charities are managed to a high standard.
Financial reporting and thresholds
The Act also updates the financial thresholds for charities. Smaller charities will now have less stringent reporting requirements, while larger organisations will need to meet more comprehensive financial reporting standards.
The purpose of these changes is to balance the regulatory burden between smaller and larger charities while still maintaining transparency.
Under these new guidelines, all charities must ensure they keep accurate financial records and submit annual reports to the Charities Regulator.
In line with this, there will be greater scrutiny of how charities use their funds, particularly for larger organisations. The goal is to ensure that funds raised from the public are spent appropriately and in accordance with the charity's objectives.
Mismanagement of funds, even in smaller charities, will be subject to investigation and penalties.
Charities should review the amended requirements for financial reporting and determine where they fall on the new thresholds for reporting.
For instance, the Amendment Act has raised the threshold requiring that the accounts of a charitable organisation be audited from €500,000 to €1,000,000.
On the other hand, while the previous Act exempted a charitable organisation that is a company from this audit requirement, this exemption has now been removed.
Enhanced role of the Charities Regulator
The Charities Regulator plays a central role in overseeing the charitable sector, and the new Act significantly enhances its powers.
The regulator will now have broader authority to conduct investigations, inspect records, and take enforcement actions where necessary. This includes the ability to freeze bank accounts, remove trustees, and impose sanctions on charities that fail to comply with the new regulations.
The Act also introduces provisions for the regulator to provide more guidance and support to charities, helping them navigate the new compliance landscape.
These new powers and supports are intended to strengthen the sector by encouraging best practices and ensuring public confidence in how charities operate.
Streamlining administrative processes
Another focus of the Act is to simplify the administrative burden on charities with the aim to make it easier for organisations to comply with regulations without being overwhelmed by paperwork or unnecessary procedures.
For example, the Act introduces measures to simplify the registration process for new charities, as well as changes to how charities can update their details or amend their governing documents.
By streamlining these processes, the hope is that charities can focus more on their core mission of providing services and less on administrative tasks. However, these simplified processes are balanced by the increased expectations for accountability and governance.
Will there be guidance for charities to assist with good governance?
The Charities Regulatory Authority (the Authority) has welcomed the introduction of the new legislation and has announced plans to develop guidance for charity trustees and those involved in managing or advising charities as the changes being introduced under the Act are commenced.
While any such guidelines or codes of conduct developed by the Authority will not have the same effect as legislation, the Act provides that charities and charity trustees shall have regard to them. It is, therefore, clear that it will be expected of charities that any such guidelines or codes of conduct will be taken into account and adhered to by charity trustees and this is something which they must bear in mind when ensuring that they meet their annual governance code compliance requirements.
Trustworthy charitable sector
Overall, the Charities (Amendment) Act 2024 introduces a range of reforms that will have a significant impact on how charities operate in Ireland.
By strengthening governance, enhancing transparency, and expanding the powers of the Charities Regulator, the Act aims to foster a more accountable and trustworthy charitable sector.
These changes will ultimately benefit the public, donors, and the charities themselves by ensuring that charitable organisations are held to the highest standards of governance and compliance.
Keith Doyle is Audit & Assurance Partner at Azets
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