Voluntary audited SORP and filing abridged accnts

Is it possible to file abridged accounts at Co House yet still prepare audited SORP accounts?

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This is an unusual setup for a company limited by guarantee that is not a registered charity in the UK.

It has no audit or SORP requirement so is electing to voluntarily prepare its accounts under SORP and have these audited.

Reason is principally for its philanthropic donors, so that the donors can be given a detailed set of accounts with full disclosure in a format they understand.

The organisation has no statutory obligation to file SORP accounts with Charities Commission or at Companies House.  The organisation wants to continue filing unaudited (or audited) abridged accounts at Companies House.

So the question is what must and can the organisation do?

Can it prepare two sets of accounts, one as its statutory filing with Co House, and another unpublished yet still audited more detailed set for internal use?

looks there to further confuse matters it is also possible to produce "filleted" accounts for Co House that omits certain key sections. So somewhere between full SORP and abridged. Confusing!

Any thoughts on where to go for guidance?

 

 

Replies (7)

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Scalloway Castle
By scalloway
03rd Dec 2017 09:45

DO you mean the charity SORP?

As far as I am aware there is no restriction on a limited company preparing accounts in any format that suits its internal purposes while filing standard accounts with Companies House.

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Replying to scalloway:
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By Line73
03rd Dec 2017 10:23

Thanks @scalloway. Yes charity SORP.

What I'm thinking is that auditors may not want to see TWO sets of differently prepared accounts (as could be seen as misleading if they are meant to give a "true and fair view") so that an audited set of charity SORP prepared accounts would need to be filed as the statutory accounts, otherwise auditors simply won't sign off on them?

As I said this is an odd situation given the voluntary nature of adopting charity SORP by a non-charity which has no statutory obligation to file SORP accounts - only abridged accounts.

Perhaps this will vary from auditor to auditor? Perhaps some auditors may be ok signing off on SORP prepared accounts as the non-statutory filing knowing an abridged unaudited set will be filed at Co House, whereas others won't?

I'm struggling to see whose guidance should be followed, whether the audit profession, Companies Act or perhaps even Charities Commission etc.

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Replying to Line73:
Scalloway Castle
By scalloway
03rd Dec 2017 11:30

In my experience the auditors will prepare a set of accounts that meet your company's statutory requirements. You may be able to ask them to do an addendum for internal use only and add it with the disclaimer "These pages do not form part of the statutory accounts".

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Replying to scalloway:
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By Line73
03rd Dec 2017 14:47

What's stopping a company preparing two sets of accounts:
- statutory abridged statements filed at Companies House;
- charity SORP statements not filed at Companies House;
Can both be signed off by auditors?
Both will be prepared from the same underlying financial numbers, trial balance etc.
I'm just trying to understand what's guiding options.

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Replying to Line73:
RLI
By lionofludesch
03rd Dec 2017 14:58

Line73 wrote:

What's stopping a company preparing two sets of accounts:

FRS 102.

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RLI
By lionofludesch
03rd Dec 2017 11:21

If you're talking about management information for internal use, you may do as you wish.

There must only be one version of the published accounts though.

Abridged ? Why ? It's a flawed concept.

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By WhichTyler
03rd Dec 2017 16:34

Auditors can audit whatever you want them to as long as there is an agreed standard. I have had them audit reports for individual projects (for EU funding for instance), royalty statements from licensees etc . The audit report may not be the standard one in these circumstances

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