 DACORUM
VOLUNTEER BUREAU |
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| (A company limited by guarantee) |
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| NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS |
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| FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2007 |
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| 1 |
ACCOUNTING POLICIES |
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| 1.1 |
Basis of Preparation |
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The financial
statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, and in
accordance with the Companies Act 1985 and the Statement of Recommended
Practice 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities' issued in March 2005. |
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The charity has
availed itself of Para 3 (3) of Schedule 4 of the Companies Act and adapted
the Companies Act formats to reflect the special nature of the charity's
activities. |
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The Statement of
Financial Activities (SOFA) shows the sources of income and expenditure
analysed between General Fund and Restricted Funds. |
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| 1.2 |
Fund accounting |
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Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in
furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. |
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Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for a
particular purpose. |
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Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by
the donor. |
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| 1.3 |
Incoming resources |
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All incoming
resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the
charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with
reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to
particular categories of income: |
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Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is
included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable.
Grants, where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific
performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes
unconditionally entitled to the grant. |
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Donated services and
facilities are included at the value to the charity where this can be
quantified. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been
included in these accounts |
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Investment income is
included when receivable. |
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Incoming resources
from grants, where related to performance and specific deliverables, are
accounted for as the charity earns the right to consideration by its
performance. |
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| 1.4 |
Resources expended |
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Resources expended are
allocated to the particular activity to which the cost relates. |
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Costs of generating
funds comprise the costs associated with attracting voluntary income;
essentially staff time in preparing funding bids and reporting back to
funders |
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Charitable
expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of
its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs
that can be allocated directly to
such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support
them. |
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Governance costs
include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory
requirements of the charity and include the audit fees and costs linked to
the strategic management of the charity |
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| 1.5 |
Fixed assets |
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The SORP (Statement
of Recommended Practice) requires all sources of income to be shown, even
though they may be used for purchasing fixed assets. The asset itself is charged in the
balance sheet at the time of purchase and is not included in the SOFA
expenditure. Depreciation of the
asset is charged in the SOFA.
Accordingly the net incoming resources are not necessarily operating
surpluses (or deficits). They
include the purchase cost of the assets less the depreciation charges. |
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The useful
life of the assets held has been calculated at three years and therefore
depreciation is charged at one third cost each year. |
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