Latest Audit and Assurance

Export Insurance: Mitigating export risk. Whilst commercial banks and insurers will be your first source of support, if you can’t get export insurance from the private market, UK Export Finance may be able to help.  UK Export Finance is the UK’s export credit agency and is the operating name of the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD)…

Pay Suppliers Electronically: Beware fraudsters. Do you hold your suppliers bank details on file – one tactic recently used by fraudsters is to advise businesses of changes to a supplier’s bank details, they then wait until a genuine purchase invoice is paid. Unfortunately because the supplier’s bank details are compromised, the payment goes to the…

Pay Suppliers Electronically: Beware fraudsters. Do you hold your suppliers bank details on file – one tactic recently used by fraudsters is to advise businesses of changes to a supplier’s bank details, they then wait until a genuine purchase invoice is paid. Unfortunately because the supplier’s bank details are compromised, the payment goes to the…

Charities: Changes to audit exemption thresholds. Changes to charity audit thresholds came into force on 31 March 2015, aimed at reducing the regulatory burden for charities. They include increasing the basic audit threshold from £500,000 to £1 million, meaning less charities will be required to subject their accounts to a statutory audit. Those charities can instead…

Solicitors: Further consultation on proposed changes to Accountants’ Reports on client monies. Following a furore over plans to water down the rules for accountants’ reports on law firms’ financial accounts and safeguards for client monies, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has launched a second consultation on accountants’ reports, which will be open until 28 January 2015.…

Don’t Risk Poor Controls. Risk taking is an innate quality of entrepreneurs. However, those with prowess have the art of maximising beneficial opportunities and avoiding detrimental risks, thus limiting the potential for loss. With this in mind it is the responsibility of management to undertake regular risk management reviews and establish effective internal controls. Areas…

Academies:  2013 Audit Outcomes. There were 2,248 sets of audited accounts submitted to the EFA for the year ended 31st August 2013. Of these 25 (1.1%) had a qualified audit opinion and 73 (3.2%) had a qualified regularity opinion. Of the 25 qualified audit opinions, 21 of these resulted from failure to disclose trustees’ salaries.…

Painless Audits! It is a common misconception that the purpose of an audit is to find errors or fraud within a company’s financial records. However, the real purpose is to give readers of financial statements confidence that they give a true and fair view of the actual trading performance. At Whiting & Partners our approach…

New audit exemption rules for small companies and for subsidiaries The government has recently announced changes to company law that allow many companies and limited liability partnerships more choice in deciding whether to have a statutory audit. The changes apply to financial years ending on or after 1 October 2012. Who is affected? Broadly, there…