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TS-FS-01 Trust & Stewardship Financial Stewardship CORE Compliance v2.9.7

Trustees review management accounts

This criterion assesses whether the organization's trustees/board regularly review and scrutinize management accounts. Trustees must safeguard charity assets and exercise reasonable care and skill in financial oversight (Charities Act 2011; general trustee fiduciary duties). Regular financial oversight is essential for ensuring financial health, identifying issues early, making informed decisions about resource allocation, and ensuring proper application of funds.

Assessment Questions
  1. What is the established frequency and format for trustees to review the organization's management accounts?
  2. What evidence do trustees receive that the underlying accounts are accurate (e.g., bank reconciliation review, aged debt review, restricted fund allocation review), and how is this evidenced in minutes?
  3. How do trustees ensure they have a sufficient understanding of the financial information presented to them?
  4. Describe the process of scrutiny: what key areas (e.g., income vs. expenditure, budget variance, cash flow, restricted funds) are consistently examined?
  5. How are questions, challenges, and resulting action points from the financial review formally documented and tracked to completion?
  6. When approving corrective actions or reforecasting, how do trustees document that decisions continue to further the charity’s purposes and public benefit?
  7. What financial ‘red flag’ triggers prompt the board to consider serious incident reporting (e.g., suspected fraud, material loss, insolvency risk), and where is that consideration recorded?
  8. How does the board assess and improve its own effectiveness in performing financial oversight?
  9. When are management accounts circulated relative to meetings, and who quality-assures them?
  10. What variance/cash thresholds trigger corrective action and formal reforecasting?
  11. How do trustees monitor restricted funds to prevent deficits and ensure donor compliance?
  12. How is the financial review linked to the risk register (CC26) and to serious incident reporting where applicable?
  13. How are reserves monitored against policy (CC19) and what actions are taken if below target?
Evidence Requirements
  • Board/Trustee meeting minutes showing financial review as a standing agenda item.
  • Management accounts packs as presented to the board for the last four quarters.
  • Board-approved Exception & RAG Matrix (thresholds).
  • Two samples of bank reconciliation with independent review sign-off.
  • Finance committee assurance note(s) to board (if committee exists).
  • Evidence of trustee engagement in minutes, such as specific questions raised or challenges made to the management team.
  • An action log or decision register showing items arising from financial reviews.
  • Terms of Reference for any finance, audit, or risk sub-committee.
  • Evidence of trustee training or induction materials related to financial literacy and responsibilities.
  • Board pack cover memo with date circulated (or portal timestamps).
  • Restricted funds schedule and reconciliations for last four quarters.
  • Reserves policy and quarterly reserves monitoring reports.
  • 13‑week cashflow and 12‑month forecast, including at least one scenario/stress test.
  • Reforecasting papers where thresholds were breached.
  • Finance action tracker with owners, due dates, and closure evidence.
  • Extract from risk register showing financial risks and board updates.
  • Record of any serious incident considerations/decisions related to finance.
Scoring Guidelines
LevelRatingDescription
5 5/5 Monthly reviews; packs circulated ≥5 working days before; RAG dashboard includes 'risk linkage' column; ≥95% of exception variances have written explanations and actions; reforecasting performed within 10 days of breach; ≥90% actions closed by due date; rolling 12‑month forecast and 13‑week cashflow included; restricted funds not in deficit; reserves within policy.
4 4/5 Quarterly reviews; packs circulated ≥5 working days; financial review explicitly updates financial risks on the risk register with mitigations; ≥80% exceptions explained; ≥80% action closure; rolling 12‑month forecast; restricted funds monitored; reserves variances discussed.
3 3/5 Quarterly reviews; packs circulated ≥3 working days; exceptions noted but inconsistent explanations; action tracking exists but closure <70%.
2 2/5 Irregular reviews; limited variance analysis; no action tracking.
1 1/5 No trustee review evidenced.

Related Criteria

TS-FS-02 Banking, procurement & AML controls TS-FS-03 Robust accounting system TS-FS-04 Segregate and control Zakat vs Sadaqah (ledgers, banking, donor intent) TS-FS-05 Fundraising costs fairly reported TS-FS-06 Statutory accounts externally audited/examined with clean outcome and filed on time (all applicable regulators)
Version
2.9.7 2025-11-05

Discussion (1)

Administrator 2026-03-07 12:00:55.049692

📋 **Version updated: 1.0.0 → 2.9.7** **Changes:** Full import from mizan-297.json

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