Specialist services: Independent Accountants' Reports

The term ‘Independent Accountant's Report’ covers a broad spectrum of work carried out by independent firms of accountants for charitable and commercial organisations both in the public and in the private sector.

It is worth noting that the ‘reporting accountant’ does not necessarily need to be the company’s statutory appointed auditor: there are in fact valid ethical reasons and International Auditing Standard principles as to why an alternative provider is sometimes more suitable in the circumstances.

Eacotts has assisted its clients in providing the required ‘Independent Accountant’ reports to the relevant agencies in England, Scotland and Wales and has recently completed an assignment for a major online retailer in receipt of ‘Regional Selective Assistance’ for a new distribution centre in Wales.

What is Regional Selective Assistance?

RSA is an important investment grant scheme for businesses.  It is a discretionary scheme and is assessed against a number of criteria according to the separate England, Wales and Scotland scheme jurisdictions.  In general, all RSA projects must:

• Take place in specific areas;
• directly create or safeguard permanent jobs;
• involve an element of capital expenditure;
•  be mainly funded by the private sector; and
•  require RSA in order to proceed.

For example, since 1986, 584 projects in Wales have received £524m in Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grants, creating 64,914 jobs and safeguarding a further 38,241, according to assembly government figures.

As a consequence of receiving funding under the various schemes, companies must normally provide (with each claim and also during a ‘post completion monitoring’ period) one or more reports from an independent accountant.

Martin Gatehouse comments:

“From our involvement in providing Independent Accountants' Reports to our clients, throughout the country and over many years, we know that the personalised and responsive service provided by Eacotts is a valued resource.   We have also been active in the recycling industry by helping businesses meet their reporting obligations within the tight deadlines imposed by under the 'Producer Responsibility Regulations' and the 'Waste Electrical and New Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations', since their inception.”

In my opinion, firms are sometimes better advised to look beyond their statutory appointed auditor to meet their obligations as it is certainly worth obtaining a competitive quote or two in order to manage the cost of compliance with RSA requirements and other legislative reporting environments such as those referred to above. ”

Please contact Martin Gatehouse if you would like to discuss your requirements.

15 August 2008