How to ensure your charity board is financially competent

It is a given that strong and effective engagement by trustees in finance makes a tangible difference to the impact that a charity can have on its beneficiaries, hence striving for outstanding performance must be essential. There is an increased recognition that it is not only systems and process that are important, but the softer areas of attitudes and behaviours.

The Charity Governance Code indicates that all trustees should be committed to good governance and want to contribute to their charity’s continued improvement as well as understanding their roles and legal responsibilities. But trustees often don’t know what represents strong competency nor how to achieve it.

There is no silver bullet to achieve strong financial governance, but awareness of these issues and seeking to do at least something, will result in significant benefits.

This webinar, in partnership with MHA, is directed at trustees and senior executives of charities and will provide you with a simple framework and practical guidance to ensure your board is well-engaged and universally involved in being financially competent.

Ensure your board is financially competent by:

• Securing commitment
• Avoiding complacency
• Establishing skills; and
• Instilling competency

Speakers

Sudhir Singh, Partner and Head of Not for Profit, MHA
Sudhir is a Partner and Head of Not for Profit at MHA. Sudhir has been a specialist Not for Profit audit partner for 20 years and has worked in the sector for 30 years, joining MHA in 2013. Prior to this he was a specialist Not for Profit Partner or headed the sector groups for three other top 15 firms – RSM, Crowe and Mazars. He provides a wide range of assurance and advisory services to charity, education and other Not for Profit clients. He has extensive experience as a trustee and is currently a member of the Council of the Royal College of Art.

Helen Blundell, Director, MHA
Helen is a Not for Profit Director with more than twenty years’ experience in the Not for Profit sector, including working with charities, academies, schools and other Not for Profit bodies, and holds the ICAEW Diploma in Charity Accounting as well as a post graduate certificate in Charity Accounting and Financial Management. She works across MHA's Birmingham and Leicester offices and acts as engagement principal on audits as well as advising on special assignments across a range of issues and delivering training on a regular basis for clients, staff and sector bodies such as Charity Finance Group. Helen served as a trustee of Birmingham Cathedral for more than six years. She has also acted as an Interim Manager appointed by the Charity Commission.