REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 00755906 (England and Wales)

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 243817

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND

AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

FOR

THE E.ALEC COLMAN CHARITABLE FUND

LIMITED

Page

Report of the Trustees

1

to

3

Report of the Independent Auditors

4

to

7

Statement of Financial Activities

8

Balance Sheet

9

Notes to the Financial Statements

10

to

14

The trustees, who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025. The trustees have adopted the provisions of 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) (effective 1 January 2015).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The charitable company is a registered charity whose objectives are the relief of poverty, the advancement of

education and the advancement of religion. The members of the Council of Management confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewingthe aims and objectives of the charity and in planning future activities.

STRATEGIC REPORT

Achievement and performance

Charitable activities

Net realised outgoing resources for the year amounted to £6,022 (2024: incoming £13,138) and the gain on investments for the year amounted to £1,501 (2024: £537). The deficit of £4,521 (2024: £13,675 surplus) has been deducted from the accumulated fund of the charitable company.

Reserves policy

The trustees have established the level of reserves that the charity ought to have access to. The reserves policy is reviewed on an annual basis. The actual reserves at 31 March 2025 were £1,002,093.

Financial and risk management objectives and policies

The charity uses various financial instruments which principally comprise cash and investments. The main purpose of these financial instruments is to generate income in order to make grants in furtherance of the charity's objects.

The existence of these financial instruments exposes the charity to a number of financial risks, which are described in more detail below:

Interest rate risk

The charity deposits its funds in only recognised banks with a high credit rating which provide a good return on itsfunds.

Future plans

The charity aims to continue distributing its resources in pursuit of its charitable objectives.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by

guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

Members are appointed by the Council of Management.

Organisational structure

The Directors of the charitable company are also the members of the Council of management.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

00755906 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number

243817

Registered office

1 Vine Terrace

High Street Harborne

Birmingham

B17 9PU

Trustees

S R Stone Solicitor

R G Stone Accounts Assistant

Company Secretary

P J Stone

Auditors

Crombies Accountants Limited

Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor

34 Waterloo Road

Wolverhampton

West Midlands

WV1 4DG

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees (who are also the directors of The E.Alec Colman Charitable Fund Limited for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements 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 period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to

-	select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

-	observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP;

-	make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

-	prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements 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.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

-	there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company's auditors are unaware; and

-	the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

AUDITORS

The auditors, Crombies Accountants Limited, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Report of the trustees, incorporating a strategic report, approved by order of the board of trustees, as the company directors, on 20 August 2025 and signed on the board's behalf by:

S R Stone - Trustee

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The E.Alec Colman Charitable Fund Limited (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

-	give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

-	have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

-	have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors thereon.

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

-	the information given in the Report of the Trustees for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

-	the Report of the Trustees has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Report of the Trustees.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

-	adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

-	the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

-	certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or

-	we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

-	the trustees were not entitled to take advantage of the small companies exemption from the requirement to prepare a Strategic Report or in preparing the Report of the Trustees.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a Report of the Independent Auditors that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

-the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;

-we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the company through discussions with directors and other management

-we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the company, including the Companies Act 2006, UK taxation legislation and other laws and regulations identified as risk areas from making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and

-identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.

We assessed the susceptibility of the company's financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

-making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and

-considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

-performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;

-tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;

-assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates set out in note 2 were indicative of potential bias; and

-investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

-agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;

-reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;

-enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims; and

-reviewing correspondence with HMRC, relevant regulators including the Health and Safety Executive, and the company's legal advisors.

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Report of the Independent Auditors.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Mark Fletcher BSc ACA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Crombies Accountants Limited

Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor

34 Waterloo Road

Wolverhampton

West Midlands

WV1 4DG

20 August 2025

2025

2024

Unrestricted

Total

fund

funds

Notes

£

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM

Investment income

2

42,980

33,959

EXPENDITURE ON

Other

49,002

20,821

Net gains on investments

1,501

537

NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

(4,521

)

13,675

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

1,006,614

992,939

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

1,002,093

1,006,614

2025

2024

Unrestricted

Total

fund

funds

Notes

£

£

FIXED ASSETS

Investments

6

833,130

831,629

CURRENT ASSETS

Debtors

7

16,102

17,417

Cash at bank

157,601

159,308

173,703

176,725

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

8

(4,740

)

(1,740

)

NET CURRENT ASSETS

168,963

174,985

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

1,002,093

1,006,614

NET ASSETS

1,002,093

1,006,614

FUNDS

9

Unrestricted funds

1,002,093

1,006,614

TOTAL FUNDS

1,002,093

1,006,614

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 20 August 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

S R Stone - Trustee

1.	ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) '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) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of investments which are included at market value, as modified by the revaluation of certain assets.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

2.	INVESTMENT INCOME

2025

2024

£

£

Deposit account interest

25,262

20,968

Interest receivable - trading

17,600

12,952

Other fixed asset investments - FII

118

39

42,980

33,959

3.	NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

Net income/(expenditure) is stated after charging/(crediting):

2025

2024

£

£

Auditors' remuneration

3,000

1,740

4.	TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2025 nor for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Trustees' expenses

There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 31 March 2025 nor for the year ended 31 March 2024.

5.	COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

Unrestricted

fund

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM

Investment income

33,959

EXPENDITURE ON

Other

20,821

Net gains on investments

537

NET INCOME

13,675

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

992,939

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

1,006,614

6.	FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS

Listed

Unlisted

investments

investments

Totals

£

£

£

MARKET VALUE

At 1 April 2024

2,629

829,000

831,629

Revaluations

1,501

-

1,501

At 31 March 2025

4,130

829,000

833,130

NET BOOK VALUE

At 31 March 2025

4,130

829,000

833,130

At 31 March 2024

2,629

829,000

831,629

There were no investment assets outside the UK.

Cost or valuation at 31 March 2025 is represented by:

Listed

Unlisted

investments

investments

Totals

£

£

£

Valuation in 2025

1,501

-

1,501

Cost

2,629

829,000

831,629

4,130

829,000

833,130

7.	DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

2025

2024

£

£

Prepayments and accrued income

16,102

17,417

8.	CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

2025

2024

£

£

Accruals and deferred income

4,740

1,740

9.	MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Net

movement

At

At 1.4.24

in funds

31.3.25

£

£

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

1,006,614

(4,521

)

1,002,093

TOTAL FUNDS

1,006,614

(4,521

)

1,002,093

Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Incoming

Resources

Gains and

Movement

resources

expended

losses

in funds

£

£

£

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

42,980

(49,002

)

1,501

(4,521

)

TOTAL FUNDS

42,980

(49,002

)

1,501

(4,521

)

Comparatives for movement in funds

Net

movement

At

At 1.4.23

in funds

31.3.24

£

£

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

992,939

13,675

1,006,614

TOTAL FUNDS

992,939

13,675

1,006,614

Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Incoming

Resources

Gains and

Movement

resources

expended

losses

in funds

£

£

£

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

33,959

(20,821

)

537

13,675

TOTAL FUNDS

33,959

(20,821

)

537

13,675

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined position is as follows:

Net

movement

At

At 1.4.23

in funds

31.3.25

£

£

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

992,939

9,154

1,002,093

TOTAL FUNDS

992,939

9,154

1,002,093

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Incoming

Resources

Gains and

Movement

resources

expended

losses

in funds

£

£

£

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

76,939

(69,823

)

2,038

9,154

TOTAL FUNDS

76,939

(69,823

)

2,038

9,154

10.	RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 March 2025.