Is it still considered bad form to act as accountant and prepare and "certify" accounts for a company where one is a director?
(obviously no audit involved)
Replies (9)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
No, so long as you are up to date and competent I see no problem. I have a number of companies, and do my own accounts and certify them as such.
No
Any Tom, Dick or Harry can prepare company accounts and any director can sign the balance sheet. Lots of people who are neither up to date nor competent prepare their own accounts and provided they avoid some basic errors, Companies House never seem to reject them. It might be a bit embarrassing if you are an accountant and someone finds fault with you accounts, but there is no ethical problem.
No, but...
... if you are including an Accountant's Report, it should really say something along the following lines:
"As a practising member [/member firm of*] of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), we are subject to its ethical and other professional requirements which are detailed at icaew.com/regulations. Except that we are not independent by virtue of the financial investment in the company by one of our partners."
The example paragraph would modify paragraph 2 of the model ICAEW report.
Obviously things for other bodies, or none, may differ.
Maybe.......
....if it's a small company and you are old enough to know what "bad form" means.....these days I'd go with "not quite Kosher".
Think of your obligations as a director towards preparing the accounts and then look at the accountant's certificate you are signing, do they conflict or, maybe, would someone outside be confused seeing your name appear twice below two sets of obligations?
No big deal at the end of the day but, if I had prepared the accounts, I would sign as director and leave it at that.
I'm old enough to know what "bad form" means and I'm with Paul Scholes - if you are Director sign the accounts as such and don't include an accountant's report/certificate
mortgage accountants reference
I prepare my own limited company accounts and I recently applied for a mortgage. On the application form I put the accountant's name as the same as for the company eg Company Fred Bloggs Limited - Accountants Fred Bloggs Limited. I wondered what the mortgage provider would do about an accountants reference. All they did was to ask for SA302's for both my wife and me, and then approved the mortgage with no accountants reference sought.
Certify?
What do you mean "certify"? Neither an accountants' report nor an auditors' report is a certificate. They are reports - the clue is in the name.
And there is no need to put any report on accounts apart from the directors' report (certificate?) - unless an audit is required. Accountants put a report on accounts that they have prepared to make it clear what the have (or more importantly have not) done.
Neither Companies House nor HMRC can object to that.
stgreg
So sharp you could cut up a side street, excuse us oldies still using the C word, think everyone got the gist though.