Helena Wilkinson Author Bio

Helena’s Professional Experience

Helena began her professional career at Fraser Russell as an Audit manager and Audit Group Manager, before moving to Chantrey Vellacott as a Senior Audit Manager. Helena then joined the charity, Alexandra Park and Palace, as their Head of Finance and Company Secretary before returning to Chantrey Vellacott and progressing to Partner in 2006.

In 2013, Helena joined Price Bailey as both a Partner and Head of Charities and Not-for-profit. Alongside this, between 2011 and 2019, Helena was the Vice-Chair of The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Charity and Voluntary Sector group and was one of the first to gain the ICAEW’s Diploma in Charity Accounting.

Helena is well-respected in the industry, owing to her vast professional experience which includes her working with an extensive range of Not-for-Profit charities over the years, including many household names. Her roles within the industry have included financial management, corporate governance and strategic planning. Her experience on ‘the client’s side of the fence’ enables her to give innovative and pragmatic advice.

Helena has ensured Price Bailey rank in the Charity Finance league tables every year since joining, this year (2023) Price Bailey ranked in the top 3 for both overall service and charity expertise as auditors. Price Bailey have been recognised in the top three in the last four out of five years and were recognised as first in 2019.

Helena is FCA qualified and holds a Diploma in Charity Accounting (DChA). More about Helena.

Published content

Helena regularly contributes a variety of Charities and Not-for-Profit content for our website to keep our clients up to date with the latest legislative changes and imparting her knowledge and guidance on relevant updates pertinent to her teams’ client base. Helena’s articles have discussed topics such as: Risk management, SORP, Trustee responsibilities, Hospices in a new VAT era, Strategic planning for Charities, Charities reserves, Financial reporting council (FRC) updates, Trading Subsidiaries, Making Tax Digital’s (MTD) effect on charities, Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR), and other relevant tax issues. As well as blog articles, Helena contributes to our Not-for-Profit and Charities newsletter, and is influential in the editing process.

Publications, Coverage and Speaker Events

Helena’s expertise are widely recognised within the industry; often writing for both national, and charity press, as well as being regularly invited to speak at many dinners and events for the charity and membership sector. Helena has written articles for publications such as the UK 200 group, The Guardian, Inside Government, as well as writing annual reports for Charity Finance analysing and commenting on best practice reporting in Trustees reports. As a result of these reports, Helena is now running biannual training courses to assist charities and professionals alike on best practice in trustee’s reports.

Helena has previously spoken at Charity Finance Annual Conference, Inside Government biannually, as well as the Charity Finance Group’s Annual Fundraising Dinner and various other panel or speaker events. Helena has launched the Influence 100 Financial Benchmarking Report and 2024 will mark the fifth edition, which she has written, and is being published in conjunction with The MemberWise Network.

Helena is part of the Stakeholder group for the new Charities SORP. This means that Helena runs the professional team who share their knowledge and expertise through feeding back to the Charities SORP. Helena has also begun contributing to the International Charities SORP.

Helena has also published a book on Preparing Charity Accounts which is now an online resource updated every year for Croner-i Charities. First published in July 2015 and now updated annually online, it’s a guide those that work in charity finance into understanding charity accounts.

Qualifications

• FCCA
• CTA

Featured in

• The Guardian – Charities need to be honest about running costs
• Inside Government – Helena Wilkinson on Enhancing Financial Resilience Across the Voluntary Sector 
• Charity Finance – Are we finally approaching the end of a long journey?