The Charity Commission has opened an inquiry into a charity that offers advice and support for parents and carers of children with ADHD after it repeatedly failed to file its financial accounts on time.
The regulator opened an inquiry into the Dorset Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Support Group in August 2018 after it defaulted on its annual reporting obligations on a number of occasions.
In 2016, the charity was part of an inquiry launched by the regulator to look into the charities that had failed to meet their reporting obligations two or more times in the last five years.
Following this, the charity filed its outstanding financial information and was removed from the class statutory inquiry in January 2018.
However, the regulator said it has “yet again” failed to file its financial accounting documents on time, which is deemed a “serious regulatory concern” to the Commission and evidence of “misconduct and mismanagement” in the administration of charity.
As a result of the charity’s repeated failure to adhere to its statutory duty to file accounting information, the inquiry will look at the extent to which the trustees are complying with their legal duties in respect of their administration, governance and management of the charity, and in particular:
- The extent to which a properly appointed board of trustees is exercising proper and adequate oversight over the charity’s affairs
- Financial management including the charity’s financial controls
- Compliance with legal obligations for the preparation and filing of the charity’s accounts and other information or returns
- The extent to which the trustees have complied with previously issued regulatory guidance.
The regulator will publish a report detailing its findings as soon as the inquiry has concluded.
