United Kingdom: higher charity accounting thresholds shift assurance decisions to trustees The Charity Commission for England and Wales published updated accounting guidance on 16 September 2026. The United Kingdom-wide Charities Statement of Recommended Practice 2026 applies to financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026, including revised income and lease accounting and greater transparency for large charities. Separately, for financial years ending on or after 30 September 2026, England and Wales charity-law thresholds rise to £500,000 for accruals accounts, £40,000 for independent examination, and £1.5 million for mandatory audit, subject to structure-specific rules. This guidance explains confirmed requirements rather than introducing new legislation. Management prepares the accounts and operates controls; trustees remain responsible for approving reporting and determining whether assurance is proportionate to complexity, restricted funds and public-interest exposure. Higher thresholds reduce cost, but income alone may not capture risk, and Scottish and Northern Irish rules differ. #CorpGov angle: When the law no longer requires an audit, what evidence should trustees require before deciding that less assurance is genuinely proportionate?

United Kingdom: government opens a once-in-a-generation review of corporate reporting The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade launched a 12-week consultation on 7 September 2026. Responses close on 30 November 2026. Proposals include moving corporate governance reporting from company to group level, encouraging fuller use of comply or explain, and considering whether some governance statements could sit on a website rather than in the annual report. This is a consultation, not a change in law. Boards should treat it as a decision about what evidence investors and creditors actually need, not as a drafting exercise for the company secretary. Board implication, as analysis: Management can map current disclosures and costs. The Board must decide which reporting is decision-useful, which is ritual, and where a thinner report would weaken accountability. #CorpGov angle: If reporting is made more proportionate, who decides what the Board may stop saying in public?