Our guide supports ICAS members acting for Scottish charities to gain a broad understanding of the accounting, reporting and scrutiny requirements applying to the sector.

Guidance for ICAS members acting for Scottish Charities

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Our guide covers the accounting and reporting requirements, and external scrutiny requirements where applicable, placed on Scottish charities, both company and non-company  charities, including Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIOs) for the following assignments:

  • Accounts preparation
  • Audit
  • Independent examination

The previous edition of our guide applied to assignments for charity clients for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019, linking our guide to the effective date of the second edition of the Charities SORP (FRS 102) which remains extant. A third edition of the Charities SORP (FRS 102) is under development and is to be implemented alongside changes to FRS 102 made as part of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC)’s periodic review of UK GAAP. The effective date of this is expected to be no earlier than accounting periods 
beginning on 1 January 2026.


This edition of our guide has been updated to reflect the legal and regulatory requirements, standards and guidance in issue on 1 December 2023. Care should be taken to ensure that legal and regulatory requirements, standards and guidance relevant to a charity client’s reporting period are followed in relation to accounts preparation, audit and independent examination assignments.An ICAS member who is a charity trustee or working as an accountant at a charity may find our guide helpful in terms of understanding the accounting, reporting and scrutiny requirements placed on charities by the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and, where applicable, the Companies Act 2006.