I’ve seen some great courses explaining the accounting aspects of SORP 2026, but none (yet) on the thing that’s set to challenge many charities: what about the Impact requirements ?
These, like the rest of the new Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), affect annual reports for accounting periods beginning 1st January 2026 onwards. They apply to Charities which are registered at Companies House, or whose income is more than £250,000 a year, or who produce accruals accounts.
All of these now have to describe their impact, explaining how resources and activities have contributed to positive change, rather than just listing what is being done.
Impact is defined as “the effect or influence that a charity has on its beneficiaries and wider society.” We’re pleased to see that it picks up that causative aspect – what changes did your work cause – which comes from the European Commission work in this area. It’s useful because that’s something that is likely to matter to supporters, funders, commissioners, and trustees: all important to charities.
The requirements for disclosure, like the accounting ones, are tiered such that larger charities have to explain more, in more detail. Whichever level applies, though, charities will need to do some work to prepare for this.
Choosing the appropriate response needs to take account of who is going to see, or reference, the material, and how is it that you want them to react to it. Even more specifically, what do you want them to do as a result?
We see a choice between three broad approaches:
- Compliance or Minimalist, based on a sound supporting framework
- Meaningful, engaging, and persuasive disclosure based on a fuller supporting framework
- Meaningful, engaging and persuasive disclosure, but with the back-up of separate impact reporting
Where relevant, additional areas may be overlaid onto the explanations of core activity and beneficiary impact.
Those three approaches are explained in more detail in the Sonnet Guidance Note – Impact and the new SORP – March 2026. It also includes a checklist of the Impact disclosure requirements in the SORP, which we think charities of all sizes will find helpful.
We suggest that someone in your charity:
- Reads the briefing
- Explores and summarises what is already being done about articulating and measuring Impact
- Clarifies what messaging you want to give with your reporting, to whom, and how you want them to react
- Plans which of our three approaches best fits what you need
- Works you what you need to do and by when to ensure you can report in time.
Do get in touch if you want some help exploring this, and do let us know whether the guidance note is helpful.
