The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has urged charities to “carefully consider” what information they include in their annual accounts, ahead of legislative changes that will see the publication of all Scottish charities’ accounts.

Under current legislation, the regulator only publishes accounts for charities that meet certain criteria based on their legal form and income. For the accounts it publishes, the OSCR redacts any personal information given about individuals.

But from the end of the year, the regulator will publish all submitted charity accounts on its website without any redactions to personal information, as part of its implementation of recent changes to Scottish charity law.

The accounts will be publicly available for at least five years and will be published “exactly as received”, the regulator said.

In a statement, it urged charities to “carefully consider what information to include in your accounts before drafting them”, adding that while some personal data is required by legislation – such as the names of charity trustees – charities might want to consider whether it was appropriate to include names or images or volunteers and beneficiaries.

The regulator has also urged charities to ensure their accounts can be easily displayed online, saying that a PDF document is the preferable option.

It has also suggested that charities consider adding digital or typed signatures, rather than using handwritten ones.

Charity trustees should also make sure their accounts are accurate and submitted on time, the regulator said.

The incoming legislation also includes changes that will require charities to share trustee details with OSCR, starting from summer 2025.

Charities will need to submit the name, home address, email address, phone number and date of birth of each of their trustees. 

The regulator said: “These details will be kept securely and used by OSCR to help us regulate charities more effectively and to contact trustees where we need to.”

It added that the first and last name of each charity trustee will be published on the Scottish charity register from the end of 2025.

“This will enhance transparency and public trust, allowing donors, funders and the public to see who is responsible for governing each charity.”

The regulator said: “Individual trustees will be able to apply for their name not to be published, but only where this might put safety or security in jeopardy. We will provide more details of this when data collection begins.”

The OSCR said it would update its online system to help charities provide this information and was working with charities and others in the sector to make sure these changes were as helpful and easy to use as possible.