A study benchmarking financial management practice in the voluntary sector has found that a quarter of those surveyed were making a loss of 8.8% of income, or more, through public service delivery.

Finance Count, produced jointly by Agenda Consulting and the CFDG, surveyed 237 medium and large voluntary and community organisations across the UK. It found that loss making through public service delivery had doubled since last year, when a quarter of charities reported making a loss of only 3.3%.

On a more positive note, a quarter of those questioned were making a surplus of 1.6% of income or more, and full cost recovery on contracts had risen from 67% last year to 71% this year. However, only 44% of respondents believed that their budget-holders were fully aware of central costs, which the CFDG said required additional raising of awareness of full costs across organisations.