Many people think of the yearly visit of the auditors as a stressful and worrying time, but it does not have to be like that. Whether you have had an audit before or this is the initial audit then there are a few things you can do to prepare and ensure that the procedure goes as smoothly as possible. An audit is a method of giving assurance to the shareholders their money has been used in a sensible manner. It will not guarantee to discover fraud, but rather will look to find out whether there are sufficient management controls in place that fraud is minimized. Audits can also be used by outside stakeholders to make sure that the business they are looking at has true and fair accounts.
Many companies in the UK do not need an audit, if your organization has a turnover of less than #6.5 million, assets of less than #3.36 million and average less than 50 workers then an audit is not required. You will have to complete an Audit Exemption Statement and some kinds of company may nevertheless have to have an audit any how or their shareholders can ask for one. There comes a time However when a firm can’t avoid the yearly check and also the first time around this can seem like a daunting prospect. The very first thing to do is to opt for an annual return. Many businesses will have attorneys that currently deal with issues such as taxation and so the obvious answer is to use the business which you currently have a connection with. It is a little known fact however that not all accountancy practices can carry out an audit.
Planning the audit
One of the Cornerstones of auditing is planning and your auditors will place an audit planning meeting to allow them to sit down with you and discuss your organization and get a little bit of history. This will allow them to understand any special problems that may need looking at and to work with you on timings and locations. You can take advantage of this meeting to discover how they intend to approach company secretary resources. Bear in mind that the whole process ought to be regarded as collaboration, the auditors are not there to catch you out and so approaching it as a dialogue will create a far more useful outcome. Your auditors will need some room to work; you will need desk space with electricity so that they can plug in laptops. They will use folders and files so a good sized work area is useful, and they will require access to your accounting team so somewhere reasonably near finance is very important. Bear in mind that you are paying for their time, so anything that reduces the amount that they are on site is a fantastic thing from a fiscal and a disruption viewpoint.
