The directors 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 charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" 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)".
The principal activity of the Charity is the prevention and relief of cruelty and suffering amongst animals, especially in Japan. Grants have been made to organisations in Japan and the United Kingdom to help them provide for the principal objective.
The directors have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Details of the activities of the charity may be found in the published Annual Report and Accounts for 2025.
The overall deficit for the year was £244,799 (2024 deficit of £165,484) as set out in the Statement of Financial Activities on page 4 of the accounts.
Reserves policy
It is the policy of the charity to maintain a level of unrestricted funds, which are free reserves of the charity, at a level sufficient to fund the charity in the event of a sharp fall in incoming resources. The directors believe this should be between six months to a year.
Public benefit
The charity's council members have referred to the guidance in the Charity Commission's general guidance on Public Benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, they have considered how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.
Investment policy and objectives
The council have considered the most appropriate policy for investing funds and have found that a specialist charity investment management company meet their requirements in providing a stable return for the charitable company.
Future Plans
Over the year ahead the directors will be reviewing the legal status and set up of the charity to ensure it is fully up to date and equipped to take the charity into it’s next phase of development.
The Charity is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. It is controlled by its governing document, which is its Articles of Association.
Charity constitution
None of the Members of Council has any beneficial interests in the company. All of the Members of Council are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.
The directors who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
Recruitment and appointment of new directors
Directors are recruited following personal recommendation by a current director. All directors are provided with;
a) Model Job Description for a Director
b) Legal Duties of a Director, including completion of a declaration form and a supplementary Automatic Disqualification Declaration.
c) The "Essential Trustee" guidelines as issued by the Charity Commission
In addition standard job descriptions are provided for individual roles of Honorary Treasurer, Chairman and Company Secretary.
Organisational structure
Management of the Charity is conducted by a Board of Directors who meet five times per year and including the AGM.
All Matters arising are dealt with by the Board of Directors.
Key management remuneration
The Charity has part time employees and salaries are set based on market rates and reviewed annually.
Related parties and co-operation with the other organisations
Our main purpose is to provide grant aid and advisory support to the Japan Animal Welfare Society in Japan and other animal welfare projects in Japan upon receipt of grant applications, which are considered by our directors.
Grant aid is also provided to certain United Kingdom based charitable organisations in support of their specific animal welfare projects in Japan and which are in keeping with our aims and objectives.
In preparing this report the Council Members have taken advantage of the small companies exemption provided by section 415A of the Companies Act 2006.
The Directors report was approved by the Board of Directors.
I report to the directors on my examination of the financial statements of Animal Welfare Japan (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2025.
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 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. In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act 2011.
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 Companies Act 2006.
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 Companies Act 2006 other than any requirement that the financial statements 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 financial statements 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.
Animal Welfare Japan is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Lyell House, 51 Greencoat Place, London, SW1P 1DS.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" 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)". 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 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, with the exception of investments which are included at market value, as modified by the revaluation of certain assets. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the directors continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the directors.
Designated funds represent the funds of the charity represented by investments and property, which are required to help run and support the future of the charity.
Voluntary income is received by way of subscriptions, donations and legacies and is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable. Legacies are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to them.
The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included in these accounts.
Investment income is included when received.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, 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 classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of it's 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.
Grants payable are payments to third parties in furtherance of the charitable activities, these payments are proposed and reviewed in the directors meetings and are only paid on agreement of the directors. The grants are accounted for when the payment has been made to the recipient which is usually within a timely manner of the meeting date.
Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, finance, personnel, payroll and governance costs which support the trusts artistic programmes and activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 8.
Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity and include the independent examination fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the charity.
Staff costs include those who are employed by the Charitable Company or self contract freelance workers (split in the wages note). The costs are recognised in the time that they have worked for the organisation.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
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.
No depreciation is provided in respect of freehold land and buildings as the cost is less than the estimated residual value and any depreciation charge would be immaterial.
All assets costing more than £500 are capitalised.
Investments are included at market value at the year end. Gains and losses on disposal and revaluations of investments are charged or credited to the SOFA.
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 charitable company only has financial assets and liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.
The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
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 charity 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.
Rentals payable under operating leases, including any lease incentives received, are charged as an expense on a straight line basis over the term of the relevant lease.
Transactions in currencies other than pounds sterling are recorded at the rates of exchange prevailing at the dates of the transactions. At each reporting end date, monetary assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies are retranslated at the rates prevailing on the reporting end date. Gains and losses arising on translation are included in net income/(expenditure) for the period.
Debtors
Other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due.
Creditors
Creditors are recognised where the charitable company has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any discounts due.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Freehold land and buildings have been included in the accounts at historic cost. No depreciation is charged on the building on the basis that the estimated residual value is in excess of the cost included in the accounts and depreciation would be immaterial.
Valuation of investments at market value, based on calculation by the investment fund manager. The investments held are all shares listed on a recognised stock exchange and have an easily identifiable market value.
Grants payable
Grants payable
Council members were re-imbursed travel costs and sundry costs and expenses in an amount of £1,269 (2024 - £1,091) during the year.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The directors do not consider there to be any key members of management. The charity is managed and run by the board of directors.
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
The historical cost of the investments are £1,208,039 (2024: £1,295,822)
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
These are unrestricted funds which are material to the charity's activities.
Property fund represents the funds necessarily set aside for the charity's occupation of land and buildings.
Investments fund represents unrestricted funds set aside for the charity's investment portfolio, which it uses to generate an income to support the charitable objectives.
The income funds of the charity include the following designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the directors for specific purposes:
Helen Kedie is both a director and the editor of the Animal Welfare Japan magazine. In the financial year, Helen received £875 (2024: £805) for her editorial services.