The Charity Commission has initiated a statutory inquiry into Community Accountancy Self Help (CASH), citing concerns over the organisation’s repeated failure to submit required accounting information.  

The charity, which aims to advance education through financial management training, particularly for other charities, has not filed annual returns and accounts since the year ended March 2020. 

UK’s Commission’s decision follows a non-compliance by CASH, which was previously part of a ‘double defaulters’ inquiry in 2018 and 2020.  

This inquiry focuses on charities that have failed to submit necessary accounting information twice or more within a five-year span.  

Despite previous engagements where the Commission highlighted the trustees’ statutory duties, CASH has defaulted again, with accounts for the years ended March 2021, 2022, and 2023 still outstanding.  

The accounting information for the year ended 2021 is now more than 1000 days overdue. 

The inquiry will scrutinise the trustees’ adherence to their legal responsibilities regarding the content, preparation, and submission of the charity’s accounts and annual returns. 

This inquiry will examine whether the trustees are overseeing the charity in accordance with its objectives and governing document, and if they have enough committed and competent trustees. 

This will be done to determine if there has been any misconduct or mismanagement in the charity’s administration. 

The Commission has indicated that it may broaden the inquiry’s scope if further regulatory issues are identified.  

This action follows a 2019 study by the Charity Commission, which found that only about half of the charity accounts reviewed met the regulator’s external scrutiny benchmark, revealing shortcomings in the accounts’ auditing and examination process.