PKF Accountants and the Charity Finance Directors’ Group have launched their eighth annual charity survey to explore aspects of risks affecting the sector.

Charities are invited to participate either online at www.pkf.co.uk/riskssurvey or by contacting Denny Coote on 020 7065 0140 or email to denny.coote@uk.pkf.com for a hard copy of the questionnaire.

The 2008 Charities Survey Managing Risk – a healthy appetite, revealed that although charities generally appear to be taking most of the obvious steps to satisfy themselves that they have identified all the relevant risks, only a third have rigorous processes in place for determining whether possible risk mitigations are worthwhile.

A surprising 16% indicated that they had no formal process at all. The Charity Commission has noted that “the survey flags up opportunities that shouldn’t be missed.”

The past year has certainly put risk management systems to the test. In the wake of the economic downturn many of the feared circumstances have materialised, whilst new ones have emerged.

The 2009 Survey will explore the impact of the credit crunch and economic downturn, the extent to which risk management has helped charities so far and what is making the difference between effective and less effective risk management.

It will also look at how charities are dealing with the emerging issues and the strategic options for surviving these tough times.

Charles Cox, head of charities at PKF, commented: “We warmly encourage all charities – regardless of their size – to participate in order to make this year’s survey the most wide-ranging to date.”