Latest Audit and Assurance

Companies that require their accounts to be audited, and hold significant levels of stock at their year-end, expect a visit from their auditors annually to perform test counts of their stock.   However, during the current lockdown, auditors are considering other ways to gain the assurance they need over the stock levels held. Some suggestions…

Whether unincorporated, a charitable company or a CIO (charitable incorporated organisation), charities are required to have certain levels of assurance over their financial statements depending on their size. The limits are much smaller than companies, meaning that many charities require some sort of external scrutiny. The requirements by size are as follows: Income up to…

As the world becomes more digital, it leaves us wondering where further efficiencies could be achieved through switching to more high-tech methods. One possible area for auditors is stocktaking. For an audited entity with significant levels of stock at the year end, it is likely the auditor will want to perform test counts of the…

It is common for entities who undertake research and development to receive grant funding for projects that they undertake. Grants will often be paid on the basis of expenditure incurred or a proportion thereon and may be awarded with certain conditions attached.   One such condition for grants above a certain level will be the…

No audit sets out to conclude with total confidence that a set of financial statements are 100% free from any misstatement. To do so would belie the technological reality and scale of modern business; auditors would likely become a permanent fixture at client premises to review every single business transaction and audit would become an…

Technological advances in the ways that data is captured, processed, stored and communicated continually change the ways in which we do business. In the context of auditing, data analytics concerns the process of extracting, transforming, validating and analysing large volumes of data to make judgements and form conclusions. The way we approach auditing must change…

  For many years now, many mid-sized UK charities have been required to subject their annual statutory accounts to independent examination. For such charities, with income within the range of £25,000 to £1m and gross assets of less than £3.26m, an independent examination is a lighter touch of independent scrutiny than a full audit. As…

Audit thresholds are linked to the small company limits, which are currently set by the EU. The UK can choose to impose a lower threshold than the small company limits, but not a higher one. As a result of Brexit, power will return to the UK, and as a result the cap on audit thresholds…

Solicitors: New rules for handling client money. The consultation period has now closed on the proposed new rules for how solicitors handle their client money: Proposed Draft Solicitors Accounts Rules

Audit Exemption Turnover Threshold: Raised to £10.2m. The Government is to raise the audit exemption threshold to the maximum allowed under EU law. In a statement read out in parliament, Anna Soubry, minister for small business, industry and enterprise, said the decision had been made after considering responses to its discussion paper. Companies will not be required to…