Statement templates for trusts, NPOs and bodies corporate
The South African entity types Achekam has statement templates for, from trusts and NPOs to bodies corporate and GRAP entities, and what the firm decides.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Accountants & audit firms in South Africa
A small practice's client list rarely looks like a textbook. Next to the private companies sit a sectional title scheme's body corporate, a church registered as a non-profit, two family trusts, a trade union's branch, a close corporation that never converted and a plumber who needs statements for the bank. Each one expects statements that look as if they were written for it, not a company set with the headings changed by hand.
Achekam has statement templates written for South African practice across that range. A template gives the right starting shape; it does not settle the framework, the policies or the facts only the client can give. This article goes through the entity types the templates cover and where the firm's judgement still decides.
What the templates cover
Achekam has statement templates for:
- companies reporting under IFRS for SMEs, under full IFRS, or under their own accounting policies;
- close corporations;
- non-profit organisations;
- trusts;
- bodies corporate;
- trade unions;
- public entities and municipalities on GRAP;
- sole proprietors and partnerships.
The wording is written for South African practice. Whichever template you start from, the Studio builds the draft from the client's mapped trial balance with every figure calculated in code, including the directors' report, the four primary statements, policies, notes and a detailed income statement.
Companies: three bases to choose from
For a company, the template follows the basis the firm selects: IFRS for SMEs, full IFRS, or the company's own policies. Choosing between them is a judgement the engagement partner makes on the facts of the company. The template does not decide whether a company may use IFRS for SMEs, and it cannot tell whether a set prepared on the company's own policies meets the needs of its users. The IFRS Foundation's jurisdiction profile for South Africa describes how the country uses IFRS Accounting Standards and the IFRS for SMEs Standard, including the role of the Companies Act and the JSE.
Record the reason for the choice on the file, especially where it has changed from last year.
Close corporations, trusts, non-profits and bodies corporate
These are the clients where a borrowed company template shows most. The Achekam templates give each its own starting point, but each entity also has a founding document that may shape what its statements must contain: a trust deed, a constitution, a scheme's rules, a founding statement.
Read the reporting requirements in that document before you rely on the template. Then use the Studio's flexibility where it helps. A firm can add its own statement lines and groups and change the wording of any row title, and later builds keep those choices. A body corporate's levy income or a non-profit's restricted donations can therefore have lines of their own, while each custom line still totals into a standard line so the notes and cash flow stay consistent.
Public entities and municipalities on GRAP
There are templates for public entities and municipalities reporting on GRAP. One point needs care. The Studio's standard accounting policy wording is based on IFRS for SMEs and is labelled for review before issue. For a GRAP set, that standard wording is a placeholder at best: the firm should write its own policies, which the Studio allows.
Keep the statements work separate from public sector audit work in your mind. The Public Sector Assurance menu entry shows screens that save nothing to Achekam's server, so the template for the statements is not a sign that the public sector audit side is built.
Sole proprietors and partnerships
The template for sole proprietors and partnerships suits owners who need statements for a lender, for their own records or alongside a tax return. The judgement here is mostly about purpose: who will read the statements and what they need. Policies and notes still need the same attention as for a company, even where the reader is a bank manager rather than a shareholder.
What every template leaves to you
Whatever the entity, a few things are always the firm's work:
| Item | What Achekam provides | What the firm does |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting policies | Standard wording based on IFRS for SMEs, labelled for review | Replace or adapt it, and write the firm's own where needed |
| Notes | Figures taken from the mapped trial balance | Complete every item marked [to be completed] |
| Narrative | Standard wording, or an AI draft labelled for review where an AI key is set up | Read it against what the client actually does |
| Lines and headings | Standard lines, with custom lines and renamed rows kept on rebuild | Decide what the entity's users need to see |
Facts the trial balance does not hold are left as [to be completed] rather than invented. In a trust's set that might be information about trustees; in a body corporate's, details from the scheme's records. Treat each placeholder as a question for the client, not a formatting issue.
A short check before the first draft
- Confirm the entity type and pick the matching template.
- For a company, record the framework chosen and why.
- Read the founding document's reporting requirements.
- Plan any custom lines the entity needs.
- List the facts you will need from the client for the notes.
- For GRAP or full IFRS sets, write the policies rather than keeping the IFRS for SMEs wording.
Starting the season with the right template
Before drafting begins, go through the client list and note each entity's type and framework, so nobody starts a trust in a company template by default. How the draft itself is assembled is covered in building draft statements from a mapped trial balance, and the policy and note wording in accounting policies and notes: what is filled in.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
