Recently, I responded to an article on LinkedIn about why trustees can be so rubbish at finances and this was my reply

"One of the main things that many trustees forget is that under Charity Law,they are equally responsible for all aspects of a charity's work whether they like it or not. Whether it is finance, safeguarding, risk, health and safety etc they share responsibility.

Of course you make the best use of resources in terms of expertise and you cannot hope to be an expert in everything but there are some key areas where a basic understanding is vital and finance is one of them.

The stories of charity failures in terms of finances are legion and the vast majority relate to over reliance on individuals who have taken on the role of treasurer and not been listened to or indeed challenged by other members of the Board. As an Auditor or Examiner I always tried to ensure that trustees did not "opt out" of finance but it was a constant battle and in my current role when I do governance reviews, I always look to see how engaged trustees are with finance. There is definitely some correlation between poor governance and lack of engagement in financial matters.

To put it at its most basic. Most of us have to manage our own finances so whilst we might not see ourselves as experts we are not ignorant of finance either so trustees need to engage."

This was a question about finance but we have as trustees, "Joint and Several Responsibility" on all aspects of the Board's work.

That also means we have to be aware of (albeit not an expert in) all the areas that could impact on a charity. I know that nobody likes the thought of being the one to ask the "stupid" question but sometimes the so called "experts" are so wrapped up in the detail that they can't see the wood for the trees and in needs someone to ask that so called daft question to actually remind the expert that the person relying on the information given is entitled to a straight answer. I used to be on a Board where half of the members talked in acronyms that were part of their day jobs but forgetting that we part-timers had no idea what they were referring to. I lost no time in asking them what they meant and they soon got used to explaining things so we could all understand.

Ninety per cent of the time, our knowing the answer will not make a differnce to the outcome. However occasionally, it will and that is why as trustees we must ensure that whilst we can delegate, we must keep ourselves aware of anything which might have a bearing on our decision making.