I agree with everyone who says that you have a duty to report them, so do it now. Something quite critical here is the distinct likelihood that they or their partners don't have PI insurance and are thus putting their clients at risk. This compounds their offence, to say nothing of CPD compliance or ethical behaviour.
When I started in the profession in Wiltshire in the 1950's, farm records invariably included a professional year end valuation of livestock and "acts of husbandry", which is how growing crops were described.
Have you been in telephone contact with the Inspector or is it just correspondence. I have always had a successful outcome from speaking directly, whether at the outset of an enquiry or during its course. It is also helpful if you can establish that you are two professionals working together to find a mutually acceptable outcome. No this is not bland soap, it works and confrontation doesn't.
I was at an auto-enrolment lecture last night and it's an unbelievable burden for any small employer or their accountant. However, the staging dates for the smallest companies do not come up until 2017 and one hopes the message can be put across to whatever lashed-up government we have next year that there needs to be an exemption from AE or, at least a simpler regime, for any payroll of 5 or fewer employees.
I have a situation with an overseas client receiving gross interest from a UK company. I have told him several times that the accounting firm dealing with these payments should ensure that Income Tax has been deducted. However my client files a UK self assessment return and accounts for his liability on this income arising in the UK, therefore there is no loss to HMRC and no gain to him. In Arabita's case, my view is that there is going to be a gain to the recipient of the interest, because it has not been declared or returned to HMRC - and he's probably not going to put it on his local tax return either.
I initially used Caseware for a couple of years and thought that it was good value for a very comprehensive package. However, I could never produce a set of accounts without spending 30 or 40 minutes on the phone to their help desk and eventually moved to VT, which could not be simpler. On the odd occasion I've needed to call them, they have sorted out my problem in a couple of minutes. VT produces iXBRL accounts at the press of a button and the price can't be beaten.
I had a similar enquiry a few years ago on my best-run client company. Two Revenue officers spent a day and a half at my client's office, thanked us for our cooperation and said that there were no adjustments necessary. My guess is that their risk profiler had picked up fairly high (and genuine) costs for specialist subcontractors and travel & subsistence expense, including overseas. Perhaps your client has something similar in their accounts.
All very interesting. I am FCA,FCCA and CTA, so I have views and experience on all these bodies. There are advantages in belonging to any or all of them. None of them is perfect in terms of governance, but I would not worry too much about this. ICAEW is still much more rooted in the UK than ACCA. The original questioner should realise that if he moves to ICAEW, he will have to pay two subscriptions and two practising certificate fees, otherwise resign from ACCA. ICAEW brought in the "Pathways" scheme for rapid entry to members of other CCAB bodies and I would recommend it. ICAEW is much more responsive nowadays to matters concerning practice members, particularly those in small firms.
The ICAEW District and Area Society network is much better developed than the ACCA equivalent and joining one of these bodies gives access to good CPD and networking opportunities.
By the way, is it just one "Anonymous" or is it a whole clan of you?
If you are an ICAEW member, do try to speak to one of the Institute's Support Members. These are experienced local people whose job it is to give a sympathetic ear to problems and help to find the best way out. This is a confidential service and Support Members are exempt from passing on any information to the Institute.
My answers
I agree with everyone who says that you have a duty to report them, so do it now. Something quite critical here is the distinct likelihood that they or their partners don't have PI insurance and are thus putting their clients at risk. This compounds their offence, to say nothing of CPD compliance or ethical behaviour.
When I started in the profession in Wiltshire in the 1950's, farm records invariably included a professional year end valuation of livestock and "acts of husbandry", which is how growing crops were described.
Have you been in telephone contact with the Inspector or is it just correspondence. I have always had a successful outcome from speaking directly, whether at the outset of an enquiry or during its course. It is also helpful if you can establish that you are two professionals working together to find a mutually acceptable outcome. No this is not bland soap, it works and confrontation doesn't.
AE burden
I was at an auto-enrolment lecture last night and it's an unbelievable burden for any small employer or their accountant. However, the staging dates for the smallest companies do not come up until 2017 and one hopes the message can be put across to whatever lashed-up government we have next year that there needs to be an exemption from AE or, at least a simpler regime, for any payroll of 5 or fewer employees.
The benefit
I have a situation with an overseas client receiving gross interest from a UK company. I have told him several times that the accounting firm dealing with these payments should ensure that Income Tax has been deducted. However my client files a UK self assessment return and accounts for his liability on this income arising in the UK, therefore there is no loss to HMRC and no gain to him. In Arabita's case, my view is that there is going to be a gain to the recipient of the interest, because it has not been declared or returned to HMRC - and he's probably not going to put it on his local tax return either.
Accounts production
I initially used Caseware for a couple of years and thought that it was good value for a very comprehensive package. However, I could never produce a set of accounts without spending 30 or 40 minutes on the phone to their help desk and eventually moved to VT, which could not be simpler. On the odd occasion I've needed to call them, they have sorted out my problem in a couple of minutes. VT produces iXBRL accounts at the press of a button and the price can't be beaten.
Randon enquiry?
I had a similar enquiry a few years ago on my best-run client company. Two Revenue officers spent a day and a half at my client's office, thanked us for our cooperation and said that there were no adjustments necessary. My guess is that their risk profiler had picked up fairly high (and genuine) costs for specialist subcontractors and travel & subsistence expense, including overseas. Perhaps your client has something similar in their accounts.
Get to the point!
All very interesting. I am FCA,FCCA and CTA, so I have views and experience on all these bodies. There are advantages in belonging to any or all of them. None of them is perfect in terms of governance, but I would not worry too much about this. ICAEW is still much more rooted in the UK than ACCA. The original questioner should realise that if he moves to ICAEW, he will have to pay two subscriptions and two practising certificate fees, otherwise resign from ACCA. ICAEW brought in the "Pathways" scheme for rapid entry to members of other CCAB bodies and I would recommend it. ICAEW is much more responsive nowadays to matters concerning practice members, particularly those in small firms.
The ICAEW District and Area Society network is much better developed than the ACCA equivalent and joining one of these bodies gives access to good CPD and networking opportunities.
By the way, is it just one "Anonymous" or is it a whole clan of you?
Support
If you are an ICAEW member, do try to speak to one of the Institute's Support Members. These are experienced local people whose job it is to give a sympathetic ear to problems and help to find the best way out. This is a confidential service and Support Members are exempt from passing on any information to the Institute.