Audits

Arnold Hill & Co are a firm of experienced Chartered Accountants based in London, providing a variety of tailored statutory, regulatory, and discretionary audit services to clients in a range of industries. Our audit team take a customer-centred, hands-on approach to each business relationship, tailoring our audit procedures to the specific financial and operational circumstances of your business. Each audit report provides an extremely high level of financial credibility and assurance – as well as reviewing the legal and regulatory compliance in the required areas.

Our Audit Services

Arnold Hill & Co are registered with and are regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW). Our external audits are compliant with the Finance Reporting Council (FRC) Statutory Regulations and provide a trusted, independent validation of your financial accounts that is useful in a variety of circumstances:

Verify legal compliance with company and financial law
Identify material errors and accounting mistakes
Review compliance with accounting best practices and standards
Identify areas for improvement
Add increased value and credibility to the business

Statutory Audit

Many UK businesses are obliged by the Companies Act (2006) to undertake an annual Statutory Audit of their accounts for the previous financial year, to ensure financial probity and transparency.

These include:

Active Public Limited Companies (PLCs)
Insurance companies
Banks and lenders
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) investment firm
Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) management company
Subsidiary Company (unless it qualifies for an exemption, as described below)
Special register body
Pensions or labour relations body
Funder of a master trust pensions scheme

Your business will require an audit of their annual accounts if two or more of the following criteria apply:

1) Gross annual turnover > £10.2 million

2) Assets valued > £5.1 million

3) 50 or more employees

• Companies below the audit threshold on two or more criteria may claim an audit exemption as a small company (Section 477, Companies Act). However, you may still be obliged to conduct an audit if requested by your shareholders, or if it is specified in the company’s Articles of Association.

• Registered charities with a gross annual turnover less than £1 million in the past financial year can also claim an exemption (unless both gross income exceeds £250,000 and gross assets exceed £3.26 million).

• Subsidiary companies may qualify for an exemption if the parent company provides a guarantee covering the company’s outstanding liabilities for the past financial year.

Please give one of our accountants a call for clarification of your company's statutory audit obligations.

In some circumstances, you may choose to undergo a ‘discretionary audit’, or assurance review , even if you are not obliged to conduct one by law.

Many lenders, investors, and purchasers (in cases of mergers or business sales) request an assurance review or audit in order to be confident of a business’s financial standing.

We provide tailored audits and reviews that cover your full financial accounts if required, or that address specific areas of concern. This gives you the flexibility to address areas of operational risk in detail and provide assurance to internal or external stakeholders and investors.

Some businesses require an independent audit to demonstrate compliance with specific areas of law or professional codes of conduct and industry regulations. Such reviews may be necessary for organisations receiving government funding, for example, or when applying for professional accreditation or membership of a regulatory body.

As with all our auditing services, our procedures are customised to your operational and regulatory environment and provide an objective and independent overview of your accounts to support your compliance.