Scottish charity accounts: OSCR, thresholds and the 2026 change
Scottish charities answer to OSCR, not the Charity Commission, and prepare accounts under the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations. On 1 January 2026 the independent examination threshold doubled to £1m, which takes a sizeable group of charities out of audit altogether.
OSCR is not the Charity Commission
Every charity established in Scotland, and every charity that operates in Scotland and represents itself as a charity there, is registered with and regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. The accounting rules come from the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations rather than from the England and Wales framework.
The practical consequence for cross-border charities is that a body registered in both jurisdictions has to satisfy both regimes, and the Scottish requirements are not a subset of the English ones. An accountant used only to Charity Commission filing will get the external scrutiny threshold wrong, and that is the expensive one to get wrong.
Which accounts you have to prepare
For a non-company charity, the dividing line sits at £250,000 of gross income.
- Gross income under £250,000 — receipts and payments accounts are permitted. These are a straightforward statement of money in and money out with a statement of balances, and they are considerably cheaper to produce.
- Gross income of £250,000 or more — fully accrued accounts are required, prepared under the Charities SORP, with a statement of financial activities and a balance sheet.
Charitable companies are a separate case: company law requires accruals accounts regardless of income, so the receipts and payments option is not available to them at any level.
The trustees' annual report accompanies either set, and its content requirements scale with the charity's size. It is the part most often treated as an afterthought and the part OSCR most often comments on.
The external scrutiny change on 1 January 2026
Every set of Scottish charity accounts needs external scrutiny of some kind. The question is whether that scrutiny is an audit or the lighter and cheaper independent examination — and the threshold for that moved.
What changed
For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, independent examination is available to charities with gross income under £1,000,000.
For any earlier accounting period the threshold was £500,000.
The Scottish Government's impact assessment for the amending regulations put the number of charities moving from audit to independent examination at around 700.
If your charity has gross income of, say, £600,000 and an accounting period starting after that date, you have moved from needing a registered auditor to needing an independent examiner. That is a materially smaller piece of work and a materially smaller fee.
Two things still override the income test. A charity whose constitution requires an audit must have one whatever its income, and trustees or funders can require an audit voluntarily. A funding agreement that specifies audited accounts is the most common reason a charity below the threshold still gets audited, and it is worth reading those agreements again now that the threshold has moved.
Deadlines, and what OSCR does with the accounts
Accounts and the trustees' annual report have to reach OSCR within nine months of the charity's financial year end, submitted through the OSCR Online portal along with the annual return. A charity that is also a company files separately at Companies House on the company timetable, which is a different deadline for the same numbers and a common cause of a late filing.
OSCR publishes the accounts of larger charities on the public register, so these are not documents that disappear into a filing cabinet. Funders read them, and so do the people deciding whether to give you money next year.
Where Buzz helps is preparation and independent examination for charities under the threshold, alongside the ordinary payroll, VAT and bookkeeping that a charity needs like any other organisation. Statutory audit is regulated work that a registered auditor has to sign, and where a charity needs one we will say so and work alongside the auditor rather than pretend otherwise.
Thresholds and scrutiny requirements: OSCR guidance on charity accounting and external scrutiny, and the Scottish Government business and regulatory impact assessment for the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025. Checked 24 August 2026.
Read the Scotland overview for the rest of what is different here, or see our accounting packages.
Questions we get asked
Does my charity need an audit or an independent examination?
It turns on gross income and on when the accounting period began. For periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, independent examination is available where gross income is under £1,000,000. For earlier periods the threshold was £500,000. Above the threshold a full audit by a registered auditor is required. Two things override that test: a constitution that requires an audit, and a funder or the trustees choosing to require one. Funding agreements specifying audited accounts are the usual reason a small charity is still being audited unnecessarily.
What changed for Scottish charities on 1 January 2026?
The gross income threshold for independent examination doubled, from £500,000 to £1,000,000, for accounting periods beginning on or after that date. The Scottish Government's impact assessment for the amending regulations estimated that around 700 charities with income between those two figures would be able to have an independent examination rather than a full audit. For a charity in that range it is a real reduction in cost and in the burden on staff time, and it is worth checking your position rather than repeating last year's arrangement out of habit.
Can my charity use receipts and payments accounts?
If it is a non-company charity with gross income under £250,000, yes. Receipts and payments accounts are a statement of money received and money paid out, together with a statement of balances, and they are considerably simpler and cheaper than accruals accounts. At £250,000 of gross income or above, fully accrued accounts prepared under the Charities SORP become mandatory. Charitable companies cannot use receipts and payments at any income level, because company law requires accruals accounts regardless of size. If your income is climbing towards £250,000, plan the change of basis a year ahead rather than discovering it at the year end.
Is OSCR the same as the Charity Commission?
No. The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator is a separate regulator with its own legislation, its own register and its own accounting regulations. A charity established in Scotland registers with OSCR, and a charity that operates in Scotland and represents itself as a charity there generally has to register with OSCR as well, even if it is already registered in England and Wales. Cross-border charities therefore satisfy both regimes, and the Scottish requirements are not simply a subset of the English ones.
When do the accounts have to be filed?
Accounts and the trustees' annual report must reach OSCR within nine months of the charity's financial year end, submitted through OSCR Online alongside the annual return. A charity that is also a company has a second, separate filing at Companies House on the company timetable, and that mismatch between two deadlines for the same set of numbers is one of the most common reasons a charity files late. OSCR publishes larger charities' accounts on the public register, so funders and grant-makers can and do read them.
The parts of the tax system that stop at the border
Most of UK tax applies in Scotland exactly as it does anywhere else — Corporation Tax, VAT, National Insurance, Companies House. These are the parts that do not, written out properly with the figures in them.
Scottish income tax: what it actually costs you
Six bands instead of three, a higher rate that starts at £43,663, and dividends still taxed at UK rates. The full picture with the arithmetic done.
LBTT and the Additional Dwelling Supplement explained
Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, not stamp duty, plus an 8% surcharge that catches every company purchase. Rates, bands and worked figures.
Non-domestic rates in Scotland and the Small Business Bonus
Scottish Assessors, not the Valuation Office Agency. Relief that can take a small shop to nothing at all, and the thresholds that decide it.
Starting a business in Scotland: structure, registration and the local detail
SC company numbers, the registered office rule that has no English equivalent, and why a Scottish partnership is a legal person in its own right.
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