The Charities Regulator today confirmed that it is satisfied, following an inspection last month of  the Donegal-based charity Good and New Shop (Registered Charity Number 20074432), that it has rectified the contravention of the Charities Act 2009 and adopted the necessary of course of action, identified by the Regulator in February when it imposed an intermediate sanction on the charity.

The Charities Regulator issued a notice to the Good and New Shop on 5 February, following an assessment of the charity by the Regulator.  The assessment found that the charity had contravened section 47 of the Charities Act 2009 by failing in its duty to keep proper books of account.

The notice set out the proposed imposition of an intermediate sanction, being the publication of the contravention on the website of the Charities Regulator. The notice also set out the requirement for the charity to rectify the contravention within a specified timeframe, and the requirement to adopt the following course of action for the purposes of ensuring that the contravention concerned would not occur again:

• Introduce formal documented procedures for maintaining adequate accounting records;

• Assign the task of keeping proper books of account to a person(s) with the appropriate skills and experience;

• With regard to financial reporting:

• Introduce regular financial reporting detailing the income and expenditure (including the nature of that income and expenditure) and the assets and liabilities of the charity, and

• Ensure all financial reports are scrutinised by the charity trustees under a standing agenda item – ‘financial performance and position of the charity’ as part of all trustee meetings.

On 12 February 2018, the charity accepted the imposition of an intermediate sanction under section 73 of the Act, and undertook to rectify the contravention and adopt the course of action specified in the notice. 

On 28 June 2018, the Charities Regulator carried out an inspection of the charity to determine if the charity had rectified the contravention and adopted the course of action set out in the Notice.

The Charities Regulator is satisfied that the charity has rectified the contravention referred to in the notice within the specified timeframe and has adopted the course of action set out in the notice.

For more information: email press@charitiesregulator.ie or contact Eamon Timmins, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, at 01-6331517 or 087-7520978.