The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the Trust's Articles, 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) (effective 1 January 2019)".
The Trust's objects are; the advancement of the literary arts, in particular the promotion of new and emerging writing and the advancement of education through the promotion of literary and literacy cultures.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the Trust should undertake.
Donations received in the prior periods provide the Trust with an expendable endowment which will generate investment income to support the charitable activities. It is the trustees’ intention that the capital should be preserved to maintain the level of investment income, but the capital is expendable in case of urgent and unforeseen need, and will allow the Trust’s current activities to be sustained while consideration is given to ways in which additional funds may be raised. Trustees therefore consider that reserves should be limited to an amount appropriate to the Trust’s working capital needs and have maintained this level of reserves throughout the year.
Investment Policy
Trustees regularly review the options available for the investment of the expendable endowment to ensure that the Charity's funds are managed in accordance with its objectives and investment principles. During the year, the Trustees concluded that it was appropriate to dispose of the Charity's investment in the CCLA Ethical Fund and reinvest the proceeds with Schroders. The Trustees continue to monitor the performance of the investment portfolio and receive regular reports from the investment manager. Cash balances not immediately required for the Charity's activities are placed on short-term deposit where these are available at more than a notional rate of interest.
Risk management
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the Trust is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
Reserves policy
The Trustees have established the level of reserves that the charity ought to have. The funds are needed to:
cover support and management costs;
provide funds which can be designated to specific projects to enable them to be undertaken at short notice;
achieve a liquid reserve to provide cover for further charitable expenditure.
The Trustees continue to monitor and review periodically the level of reserves in conjunction with the setting of annual budgets and the development of the long-term strategy to meet the targets of the charity. The charity's policy is to maintain adequate funds for its commitments for charitable projects in the publishing sector.
Trustees' main focus continues to be on oversight of the operating business, to satisfy themselves that it is operating effectively and in a way that fulfils the Trust charitable purposes. They will continue to look for new activities, such as the writing academy, which advance the Charity’s objectives and provide a valuable income stream. Trustees will also continue to raise funds from third party donors with an interest in the literary field.
Granta Trust is a company limited by guarantee. It is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
Related Parties and Conflicts of Interest
None of the trustees received remuneration or other benefits for their work for the charity other than those disclosed in note 8 to the accounts. Any transactions between the Trust and the trustees or senior management or related parties must be disclosed to the Board.
Details of related party transactions are disclosed in note 22 to the accounts. Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests and register them annually with the Trust’s administration, and in accordance with the Trust’s Conflict of Interest Policy to withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises.
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:
Details of method of recruitment and appointment of trustees
Trustees are appointed to the board on the basis of their skills and experience in either the literary or charitable field. Trustee appointments are for an initial period of three years.
Supplier Payment Policy
The company's current policy concerning the payment of trade creditors is to:
settle the terms of payment with suppliers when agreeing the terms of each transaction;
ensure that suppliers are made aware of the terms of payment by inclusion of the relevant terms in contracts; and
pay in accordance with the company's contractual and other legal obligations.
Trade creditors of the company at the period end were equivalent to 31 days' purchases, based on the daily amount invoiced by suppliers during the period.
Details of organisational structure
Granta Trust employs ten staff to edit and sell the magazine, and to edit the poetry list. Other functions, including contract administration, production, marketing and publicity, finance and IT are outsourced to Granta Publications, which charges for time spent on the Trust’s operations. The day to day management of the operations of the Trust is overseen by the Executive Management Board, which reports regularly to trustees.
The Trustees consider that the Board of Trustees, the Editor and Deputy Editor comprise the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling the charity and its day to day operation.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Bright Grahame Murray be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
The address of the principal office of the charity is 12 Addison Avenue, London, W11 4QR.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
The trustees, who are also the directors of Granta Trust for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report 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 Trust and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
In preparing these financial statements, 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 financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Trust will continue in operation.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Granta Trust (the ‘Trust’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the summary income and expenditure account, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
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 Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Trust 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.
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 Trust’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 other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. 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 course of 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.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees' report; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
As explained more fully in the statement of trustees' responsibilities, the trustees, who are also the directors of the Trust for the purpose 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 Trust’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 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 an auditor's report 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 extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
We identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, and then design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In identifying and addressing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:
We obtained an understanding of laws and regulations that affect the Charity, focusing on those that had a direct effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on its operations. Key laws and regulations that we identified included the tax legislation, Charities Act.
We enquired of the trustees and reviewed trustees' meeting minutes for evidence of non-compliance with relevant laws and regulations. We also reviewed controls the trustees have in place to ensure compliance.
We gained an understanding of and evaluated the controls that the trustees have in place to prevent and detect fraud. We enquired of the members about any incidences of fraud that had taken place during the accounting period.
The risk of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations and fraud was discussed within the audit team and tests were planned and performed to address these risks. We identified the potential for fraud in the following areas: income recognition, management override, misappropriation of assets.
We reviewed financial statements disclosures and tested to supporting documentation to assess compliance with relevant laws and regulations discussed above.
We enquired of the trustees about actual and potential litigation and claims.
We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that might indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.
In addressing the risk of fraud due to management override of internal controls we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates were indicative of a potential bias.
Due to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations and cannot be expected to detect all fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s 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 charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Bright Grahame Murray is eligible for appointment as auditor of the Trust by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
Investments
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Granta Trust is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 12 Addison Avenue, London, W11 4QR, UK.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of the small companies regime, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "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). The Trust is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Trust. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Trust 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 financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Donations are recognised once the Trust has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Grant income is recognised as income when pre-agreed criteria, such as associated expenditure, has been met. Grant monies received where criteria has not yet been achieved is recognised as deferred income.
Recognition of Expenditure
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:
Governance Costs
Includes staff time and expenses for time spent in connection with trustees meetings, plus the cost of audit and professional fees. Salary costs, where appropriate, are charged in accordance with time spent.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price excluding 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. Transaction costs are expensed as incurred.
At each reporting end date, the Trust reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell. Cost comprises direct materials and, where applicable, direct labour costs and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing the stocks to their present location and condition. Items held for distribution at no or nominal consideration are measured the lower of replacement cost and cost.
Net realisable value is the estimated selling price less all estimated costs of completion and costs to be incurred in marketing, selling and distribution.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The Trust has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the Trust's balance sheet when the Trust becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the Trust’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the Trust is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
British Council Grant
Magazine publication
Charitable expenditure
Magazine publication
Charitable expenditure
British Council Grant costs
Writing Academy Course costs
During the year a trustee provided consultancy services to the Trust amounting to £nil (2024: £nil).
During the year, no remuneration or benefits were received by trustees and key management personnel for their services to the charity.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
Listed investments
The Trust operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Trust in an independently administered fund.
Endowment funds represent donated income given to provide the Trust with an expendable endowment. Income arising on the endowment funds can be used in accordance with the objects of the Trust and is included as unrestricted income. Any capital gains or losses arising on the assets form part of the fund.
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.
Grants of £nil (2024: £nil) have been made to Granta Publications, a company under common control by virtue of the ultimate controlling party.
Donations received from related parties are disclosed in note 2.
The charity is controlled by a member of the board of trustees.