The British Red Cross is the country’s leading voluntary crisis response organisation. Mike is responsible for all of the British Red Cross’ UK and International work. Prior to his current appointment, he has held other senior positions within BRC, including Managing Director of Operations. Mike has also worked as a Director of Commissioning in the NHS. He began his career as an economist in management consultancy.

Claire acts as an intermediary between the Government and the voluntary and social enterprise sectors to champion the Social Value Act and an improvement in commissioning practices. Claire was appointed as VCSE Crown Representative in February 2018. As a key player in the social enterprise movement for over 40 years, she brings a wealth of experience to the role.

Matt is Chief Executive at Pro Bono Economics, the charity established by former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane to help other charities measure, understand and value their impact. He is a founding member of the Law Family Commission on Civil Society, which is exploring the role that the social sector can play alongside business and the government in driving forward the UK’s post-COVID-19 renewal agenda.

Daniel leads PwC's charities audit team and leads the firm's thought leadership for the charity sector. He is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Public Finance Accountant and holds the ICAEW Diploma in Charity Accounting. Daniel is Chair of the ICAEW Charity Committee, a member of the Charities SORP Committee and a member of the CIPFA Charities and Public Benefit Entities Forum.

In addition to providing assurance services Naziar also provides advisory services to a range of charities. Naziar leads Crowe's work on Donor Audits and has knowledge of institutional funding requirements having produced reports for a variety of institutional and governmental donors. She also carries out training for charities and lectures and writes on a range of topics relevant to Trustees and management.

Jill is an Audit Partner and National head of Charities within BDO’s Not for Profit group, leading the delivery of audit and advisory services for BDO UK. Jill has over 20 years’ experience of advising charities and social enterprises on multilocation and complex engagements.

After working in corporate finance and on aid assignments, Don has specialised in charities for 30 years, leading the BDO charity team. He conducts advisory and governance projects. He was on the FRC committee responsible for issuing UK official guidance on charity audits and wrote Civil Society's Charity Accounts compliance guide.

• bdo.co.uk

Joanna is a Partner at Sayer Vincent, and a member of the Charities SORP Committee. At Sayer Vincent, she has particular responsibility for technical and compliance, ensuring that the firm remains up-to-date with technical issues in audit and accounting and compliant with ethical standards and professional matters. She is also a tax specialist, particularly on VAT, and a member of Sayer Vincent’s specialist tax group.

• Find out more
• sayervincent.co.uk

Nigel joined the Commission in 2001, first heading up the accountancy unit team in Taunton and holding increasingly senior roles. In June 2020 he was promoted to Assistant Director, Accountancy Services. He advises the senior management team on charity financial issues and oversees the work of the team of accountants who cover all accountancy aspects of operational and inquiry activities.

• Nigel's blog
• gov.uk/charity-commission

Nathan is CEO at the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), a research charity that is focused on protecting and improving health in the workplace and environment. He is a trustee or independent member of several organisations including the Management Board of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT), the EDGE and the Mining Institute of Scotland.

Nicola has been a Charity Trustee since 1985, starting with the Prince’s Youth Business Trust whilst with PwC. She is an active Trustee and Treasurer of The Honorary Treasurers Forum, the umbrella charity for charity treasurers and in that capacity is part of the current SORP development process, working in the Trustee engagement strand.

Graham is an MBA and a Chartered Tax Adviser. He was appointed by the Charity Tax Group as Technical Adviser in 2016, owing to his involvement in charity VAT and tax issues over many years. This includes discussions with HMRC and the Treasury, dealing with issues that affect the sector.

Michael is a member of the Charities' SORP Committee and the SORP Committee's engagement strand for smaller charities and Independent Examiners. He is a practising independent examiner, trainer and charity accounts adviser with 50 years of experience in charity accounting and finance and a fellow of the ACIE.

Heather joined the Fundraising Regulator as its Policy and Development Officer in 2020. Previously, Heather held roles at Charities Aid Foundation as a Charity Advisor and at Charity Finance Group as a Policy Officer. She has extensive experience in helping charities of all sizes to develop fundraising strategies, understand regulation and charity law, and build good governance. Heather is also a trustee of Citizens Advice South Lincolnshire.

Pesh is one of the high-level commissioners on the Charity Tax Commission, which has carried out a review of the UK charity tax system to develop recommendations to government. He has been a member of the UK Charity SORP Committee for more than 20 years and appointed as Technical Advisor in 2017.

• crowe.com

Jennifer is a Qualified Accountant. Her extensive experience includes project implementations, product testing, project management and presales support. With 10+ years’ working in financial roles, Jennifer has great understanding of customer needs and can adapt a solution to suit customers.

Max provides strategic insight, policy intelligence and programme leadership, and enables collaboration and engagement between ACF’s members. He represents the foundation sector to colleagues in civil society, the media, officials in government and parliamentarians, aiming to create an enabling operating environment in which funders will most effectively achieve their missions. He is also a member of the Charities SORP Committee.

Carlota holds a BA in Geography from Oxford University and previously worked for a sustainability consultancy advising businesses on their sustainability strategies and disclosures. She leads EdenTree’s work on topics such as human rights, diversity and workforce issues, and is currently studying for the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).

• EdenTree

Ruth Douglas is a Senior Lawyer and Head of Legal Policy at the Charity Commission. She has worked in various roles across the Civil Service in both Legal and Policy over the last 8 years. Prior to that she worked as a corporate solicitor for an international law firm. Ruth hails from Scotland but has called London her home for the last 6 years.

Irfan is the current the Director of Finance & Operations at Impetus. He started a career as a chartered accountant in 2008 and has since spent the last 10+ years working in the not-for-profit space, including roles at Save the Children UK, the Royal College of Physicians, and the Royal Society. Irfan supported the ICAEW’s modelling code and is currently a Governor and the Chair of the Audit & Risk Committee for a local Further Education College.

Sharon is Chief Executive of Services For Education (SFE), a Birmingham based charity, with a mission to 'bring music and education to life.' SFE delivers all of the peripatetic music teaching across Birmingham schools and delivers training and consultancy to school leaders on a variety of subjects, regionally and nationally. She is also Chair of Trustees of the mental health charity Renew Wellbeing and a Non Exec Director of the social enterprise Miss Macaroon.

• Services For Education
• Renew Wellbeing
• Miss Macaroon

Judith is Finance Director of Scottish Opera, Scotland’s largest performing arts organisation, and one of the 5 National Performing Companies in Scotland. She has over 30 years of experience in charity accounting and finance, 20 of which has been in the arts sector. Judith is also on the Board of 3 UK arts organisations.

Ajay graduated from the University of Warwick with a degree in history and sociology and worked at Barclays Wealth before joining Ruffer in 2014. Ajay is a member of the charities team and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments

• ruffer.co.uk
• Find out more

Hannah is Head of Finance at Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity. She has been deeply embedded in the charity sector for many years, holding advisory, paid and voluntary roles. She has contributed to advisory panels, written sector articles, and provided training to charity trustees. Currently, in her spare time, Hannah is a volunteer debt advisor with London-based debt charity Crosslight Advice, and Audit Committee member at Salvation Army.

With over 20 years’ experience in technology, digital transformation and cloud solutions, Russ is passionate about building partnerships with customers. By helping customers realise the benefits of modernising their finance systems, he ensures they have the best possible experience with Xledger. Russ has worked across many sectors including charity and not-for profit, where he enjoys working with organisations that make the world a better place; be it for the environment, the community or their members.

Kristina is the ICAEW’s Head of Charity and Voluntary Sector. She is a Chartered Accountant who has worked in and for the Not-for-Profit sector for over 14 years. Kristina trained at Sayer Vincent and subsequently worked in finance roles at the Royal College of Nursing, Imperial College London and the Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts.