Latest Education

Protecting your organisation from cyber threats is more critical than ever in today’s digital age.   One of the most effective ways to protect your organisation from cyber threats is through comprehensive end-user training. Decisive IT  is Whitings LLP’s IT consulting and support subsidiary and we offer an end-user cybersecurity training service. This provides a…

HM Revenue & Customs have updated their Gift Aid for charities guidance.   In particular, the tables under sections titled The Benefit Rule, Charity Auctions and Educational School trips have been updated the latter of which will be of interest to charities involved in the running of schools and Educational Trusts.   The updated guidance…

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…

The government is to introduce new data protection rules under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which takes effect from 25 May 2018. Under the GDPR businesses will have increased obligations to safeguard the personal information of individuals which is stored by the business. These rules apply to the information of customers, suppliers or employees.…

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is warning SMEs to take care or face a fine. The warning comes after a company which suffered a cyber attack was fined £60,000. The investigation by the ICO found Boomerang Video Ltd based in Berkshire failed to take basic steps to stop its website being attacked. Sally Anne Poole,…

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…

Academy reporting – Accounts Return The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has now published the 2012/13 Academy Accounts Return with a revised submission date of 31 January 2014. Audited financial statements still require submission to the EFA by 31 December 2013. The accounts return is used to support a number of Treasury and departmental requirements, including…

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…

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 trustee’s…