Help centre / Reports & assurance / Draft your Trustees' Annual Report
Draft your Trustees' Annual Report
Go to Governance, then Trustees' annual report. CharityControl drafts each section from your records, following the 2026 Charities SORP. Fill the sections marked "to complete", write the narrative parts in your own words, then copy the draft for your examiner. Nothing is filed automatically.
Every registered charity writes a Trustees' Annual Report to go with its accounts. Instead of starting from a blank page, CharityControl drafts it for you from the records you already keep. You review it, then fill the gaps.
Draft your report
- Go to Governance, then Trustees' annual report.
- Check the reporting tier shown at the top. It's worked out from your gross income. If the page asks you to set your income, add it in Admin & settings first. Smaller charities have a shorter report, so the tier decides which sections you see.
- Read the sections. Most are drafted from your records: your trustees, your policies, your funds, your top risks and your impact figures. For example, if Meadowbank Community Trust holds two restricted funds, the Financial review says so, with the amounts, straight from the fund register.
- Look for the to complete badges. Each one tells you what's missing and where to record it. Fixing the underlying record fills the section on its own.
- Some sections need the trustees' own words, such as Going concern and Plans for future periods. Select the pencil icon, type what the trustees want to say, then select Save.
- When you're happy, select Copy draft. That copies the whole report as text, ready to paste into a document for your independent examiner or auditor.
What happens next
Nothing is sent anywhere. The draft stays in your workspace, and it updates itself whenever your records change. You can come back to it as often as you like.
Before filing, review the report with your independent examiner or auditor. They'll check it sits properly alongside your accounts.
Where do the figures come from?
From your own registers: the appointments register, the risk register, the fund register, the related-parties register and your impact measures. If a figure looks wrong in the draft, correct it in the register and the draft follows. The report never invents a number.
What is a SORP tier?
The Charities SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) sets out what an annual report must cover. It asks more of larger charities. CharityControl shows only the sections your tier needs, so you're never asked for more than the rules require.
The governance behind this: our free guide on charitycontrol.org explains the why in plain English.