Financial information and records - Guidance for funding applicants

Keeping financial information and records for your project

One of the Conditions of receiving a grant from us is that you keep sufficient financial information and records relating to your Project. This is outlined in our Standard Terms and Conditions of funding - paragraph 17 - Financial Information and Records.

Your financial information and records may need to be examined by us, or on occasions by other representatives such as external Auditors, to make sure our funding is being spent appropriately. In some cases, we may ask you to include information each time you claim for payment. If we need to review your project financial information and records we’ll let you know what we need.

How long must I keep financial information and records for my project?

You must keep sufficient project financial information and records for a minimum of 6 years after the Contract Period specified in your Grant Offer.  Your Grant Offer will specify if there are any circumstances where information must be kept for a longer period of time than this.

You can find information about requirements for keeping financial information and records on the following websites:

gov.uk - HM Revenue Customs 
SCVO - Accounts and Reporting

What kind of financial information and records do I need to keep for my project?

This will depend on your organisation, your project and the type of expenditure it incurs.  The table below outlines examples of the type of financial information and records we expect you to keep when buying equipment, materials or services or where claiming for organisational and overhead costs.

You should also refer to any guidance specific to your project fund.

Your project finances

Financial information and records you should keep

Low value purchase(s) – of materials, equipment or services - less than £1,000 including VAT
  • order records and delivery notes
  • invoices
  • receipts

High value purchase(s) – of materials, equipment or services - £1,000 and over including VAT. 
  • order records and delivery notes
  • invoices
  • receipts
  • quotations
  • tender documents

Travel and subsistence
  • invoices
  • receipts
  • travel mileage records and rates
  • subsistence records and rates

Staff costs – you should redact any bank details before submitting these
  • timesheets
  • payslips
  • salary, NI, employee pension contributions
  • daily staff rates

Organisational and overhead costs – being claimed as part of Full Cost recovery
  • management and administration costs
  • IT, finance and human resource support costs
  • telephone/mobile phone costs
  • office costs that include rent, electricity and gas
  • You should include details of how you have calculated these

General cash flow – recording the money your project receives and spends during your Contract Period
  • bank statements and paying-in slips
  • cash book(s) and any other account book(s)
  • records of income received, such as receipts
  • records of funds spent, e.g. purchase receipts
  • annual accounts, including your profit and loss statement and balance sheet (for larger organisations)
  • other relevant business correspondence

What are the consequences of not keeping financial information and records for my project?

Keeping sufficient financial information and records for your project is a Condition of your Grant Contract with us.  Failing to do so is a breach of that Contract and may result in action to withdraw and/or reclaim our grant as per our Standard Terms and Conditions of Funding.

Improving our service to you

We hope you found this guidance helpful.

Your feedback is important to us and will help us to further improve our grant information and the service we provide. If you have any comments then we’d like to hear from you.

Please send your comments to [email protected].  Thank you.

Published: 2020