Article 71 Annual reports
The charity trustees of a charity shall prepare in respect of each financial year of the charity an annual report containing—
such a report by the trustees on the activities of the charity during that year, and
such other information relating to the charity or to its trustees or officers,
as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Department.
Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), regulations under that paragraph may make provision—
for any such report as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of that paragraph to be prepared in accordance with such principles as are specified or referred to in the regulations;
enabling the Commission to dispense with any requirement prescribed by virtue of paragraph (1)(b) in the case of a particular charity or a particular class of charities, or in the case of a particular financial year of a charity or of any class of charities.
A copy of the annual report required to be prepared under this Article in respect of a financial year shall be transmitted to the Commission by the charity trustees—
within 10 months from the end of that year, or
within such longer period as the Commission may for any special reason allow in the case of that report.
Subject to paragraph (5), a copy of an annual report transmitted to the Commission under this Article shall have attached to it a copy of the statement of accounts prepared for the financial year in question under Article 67(1) or (as the case may be) a copy of the account and statement so prepared under Article 67(3), together with—
where the accounts of the charity for that year have been audited under Article 68, a copy of the report made by the auditor on that statement of accounts or (as the case may be) on that account and statement;
where the accounts of the charity for that year have been examined under Article 68, a copy of the report made by the independent examiner in respect of the examination carried out by him under that Article.
Paragraph (4) does not apply to a charity which is a company, and a copy of an annual report transmitted by the charity trustees of such a charity under this Article shall instead have attached to it a copy of the charity’s annual accounts prepared for the financial year in question under Part VIII of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (NI 6), together with a copy of any auditors' report or report made for the purposes of Article 257(2) of that Order on those accounts.
Any copy of an annual report transmitted to the Commission under this Article, together with the documents attached to it, shall be kept by the Commission for such period as it thinks fit.