How can I view charities' accounts?
You can view financial information for registered charities in England and Wales by searching the Charity Commission's online register of charities, which is free and searchable by name, number, registration date or area. GOV.UK provides a direct route to the same service.
Charity accounts are more accessible than many people expect. In England and Wales, the Charity Commission maintains a public register that anyone can search without paying or logging in. The register shows what a charity does, who its trustees are, its income and expenditure, and any regulatory actions the Commission has taken against it. So if you want to check how a charity spends its money before donating, or compare organisations before applying for a grant, the register is the natural starting point.
[1][2]Where to search
GOV.UK hosts a 'find charity information' service that links directly to the Charity Commission's register. You can search by charity name, charity number, date of registration, or by where the charity operates. There are also ways to browse rather than search: by income, by income category, by sector, or by looking at the top 10 charities ranked by income or spending. The Charity Commission's own register site offers the same finance information plus additional tools, including a register of merged charities and a search by constituency or local authority area based on the charity's named contact.
[1][2]What if the charity is not there?
Not every charity appears in the register, and that is worth knowing before you conclude something is wrong. GOV.UK explains that charities will be absent if they have not registered because their income is below £5,000, or if they are 'excepted' or exempt from regulation by the Charity Commission. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate registers, so a charity operating there may be found through those services instead. If a small local group does not appear, it may simply fall below the registration threshold rather than be inactive.
[1]Comparing your options
| What you want to do | Where to go | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Check one charity's finances | Search the register by name or number | Income, expenditure, trustees and any Commission actions |
| Browse or rank charities | Register search filters | Lists by income, sector, or top 10 by income and spending |
| Find local charities | Constituency or area search | Charities whose named contact is in that area, though not all local charities |
| Research the whole sector | Register datasets and API | Downloadable public data, up to 10,000 exportable records, and a live API |
| Ask the Commission directly | Contact Centre on 0300 066 9197 | Help weekdays 9am to 5pm, closed Wednesday 12pm to 1pm |
A worked example
Suppose you are deciding between two fundraising organisations and want to see how each uses its money. Search the register by each charity's name, open its entry, and look at the finance information, which includes income and expenditure. You can also check whether the Commission has taken any regulatory action against either charity, which appears on the register entry itself. If one organisation is a very small local group and does not appear, check whether it might be below the £5,000 registration threshold before assuming the worst. For a wider view, such as comparing several charities in one region, the constituency search or the downloadable dataset saves you opening entries one at a time.
[1][2]One limitation to keep in mind: the register is confirmed to publish finance information such as income and expenditure, but it is not spelled out how many years of filed accounts are displayed for every charity or how quickly recent filings appear. If you need a specific document, such as a signed annual report for a particular year, search the charity's entry first and, if it is not there, contact the Charity Commission, which can be reached by phone, by post or through its online services. A sensible next step is to search the register for one charity you already support and see exactly what its entry contains.
[2][3]Sources and dates
- https://www.gov.uk/find-charity-information · accessed 2026-10-18
- https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/ · accessed 2026-10-18
- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission · accessed 2026-10-18
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-commission-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-to-2026/charity-commission-annual-report-and-accounts-2025-to-2026 · accessed 2026-10-18