The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity's Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2019)
The charity exists to make grants and is able to provide grants to various organisations and individuals throughout England and Wales, Israel and the United States of America.
The charity has been set up for general charitable purposes but does specifically include grants for the purpose of education and training, health, the disabled and poverty. Grants are paid at the discretion of the trustees.
The activities of the charity are for the public benefit. By achieving its objectives the charity aims to benefit communities.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
In the year the charity made five grants totalling £87,500 (2022: five grants totalling £162,500).
In the year the charity had incoming resources of £277,297 (2022: £305,227), expended resources of £106,697 (2022: £178,467), and net gains on investments of £165,766 (2022: losses of £255,814), leaving a surplus for the year of £336,366 (2022: deficit of £129,054). Resources expended for charitable purposes were £87,500 (2022: £162,500).
At the year end the charity had unrestricted reserves of £2,487,091 (2022: £2,145,775). The trustees review the reserves of the charity from time to time taking into account likely future funding and commitments both known and potential. The grants paid by the charity are determined by its reserves and level of funding.
The charity's funds are held with its investment managers as investments and cash balances.
The charity's plans for the future are to continue to pay grants to institutions who satisfy the requirements laid down by the trustees.
The charity is a company limited by guarantee. None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
The governing document of the charity is its Articles of Association.
Trustees are appointed by ordinary resolution or by a simple majority of trustees. Trustees are recruited for their skill and experience so that the charity is able to achieve its objectives. On appointment trustees are briefed on their responsibilities and duties towards the charity. Other training needs are assessed on an individual basis.
The charity is managed by its trustees and decisions are arrived at by majority decision. In the event of an equality of votes the chairman of the meeting will have the casting vote. Meetings are held when the charity has business to discuss.
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.The trustees consider that the charity faces risks in the areas of governance, operations and finance.
The charity ensures that its organisational structure is appropriate and that the trustees have the relevant skills.
The trustees will only approve grants that will be used by the recipients in accordance with the objectives of the charity. The trustees will make appropriate enquiries of potential recipients and also ask recipients who have received grants to account for the monies that they have received.
The trustees will ensure that they will not make commitments that the charity will be unable to fund.
At the year end the charity had investments of £2,132,547 (2022: £1,842,361). The trustees use investment advisors to ensure these investments are suitably invested so that capital will be available in future to the fund the charity's activities.
The trustees, who are also the directors of Four Daughters Charitable Trust for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the accounts in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company Law requires the trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
In preparing these accounts, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the accounts; and
- prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Four Daughters Charitable Trust (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2023.
As the trustees of the charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Since the charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which is one of the listed bodies.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Four Daughters Charitable Trust is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 15 Eton Gardens, Lambolle Place, London, NW3 4PE.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the company's Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of fixed asset investments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the accounts, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the accounts.
Unrestricted income funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes. All the charity's funds are unrestricted, it has no restricted or endowed funds.
Income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably and it is probable that income will be received.
Investment income is included in the accounts on the accruals basis.
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with use of the resources.
Grants are recognised in the accounts once the application has been approved.
Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs, and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.
This comprises current asset investments which are cash deposits held by the charity's investment managers.
Investments
None of the trustees (or any person connected with them) received any remuneration or expenses in connection with their duties as a trustee during the two years ended 31 December 2023.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
There were no employees during the two years ended 31 December 2023. The charity operates on a voluntary basis.
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
Investment portfolio
The investment portfolio consists of listed equities and bonds. They have been valued at their year end market value. The historic cost of the investment portfolio is £1,953,556 (2022: £1,815,173).
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2022 - none).