Under statutory requirements, the accounts of Scottish charities must be externally scrutinised by someone who is independent of the charity. This person reviews the charity’s accounts and produces a report, attached to the charity’s accounts submitted to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. These reports highlight any issues to the OSCR should any arise. External scrutiny is an important component of the overall regulation of charities in Scotland, a scheme designed to ensure transparency and public accountability by registered charities.

Earlier in the year we appointed a professional independent examiner who is based in Scotland to work with the charity to meet the regulatory rules. The appointed examiner has access to the charity’s bank account statements, its receipt book, as well as copies of all trustee and member meeting minutes throughout the year. The appointed examiner then carries out an independent examination of the affairs of the charity in line with Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

The examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The report is then filed on an annual basis with the OSCR.

As part of our regulatory compliance obligations we are pleased to have completed this process for the financial year ending 5 April 2020 and hope that this process gives comfort to members of the public who donate to us that our process is organised, transparent and well managed. We are pleased to announce that our accounts were returned by the independent examiner with a satisfactory report with the Boleskine House Foundation SCIO in good standing with regard to Scottish charity financial regulations.