A recent article on CivilSociety.co.uk makes the point that for transparency purposes the process of an Independent Examination for smaller charities makes a lot of sense.
The article is here and worth a read by anyone in your organisation involved with finances.
A key description of the examination taken from the article is:
Independent Examination is…
External scrutiny by someone financially aware, a sort of negative assurance as opposed to an audit, limited in scope but stringent enough to identify major mistakes or even a simple lack of accounts. The examiner looks for errors in the process of transferring the accounting records into the summary financial statement, and for any unusual matters that should be explained.
Read the article for much more information, why it’s important and how to find out even more.