Audit

Charity audits have been described as an audit of stewardship. This is essentially what the audit for a charity is about, and we have pleasure in providing our excellent audit services to both local and national charities alike.

Charities have many stakeholders - such as donors, creditors, grantees, trustees, employees and of course the beneficiaries of the charity. They all have a right to expect the resources of the charity to be expended in the most efficient and effective manner.

We are competent in all areas of charity audit - and provide both independent examination services for charities as well as full scale audits to charities.

We can provide assistance and advice in updating the constitution of a charity and to ensure that an audit is only undertaken in cases where it is essential to be completed.

An independent examination of accounts is required for charities that meet certain exemptions.

Where the annual gross income is less than £500,000 but more than £25,000 in any of the specified years, then the accounts have to be independently examined. If the income of the charity is less than £25,000 then no external scrutiny of the accounts is required.

The independent examiner does NOT need to be a registered auditor (although many would be), but they do need to belong to a professional accounting association such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW).

It is essential that an auditor only undertakes work which they are competent to perform - at MG Group we are specialists in Charity accounting and reporting and will therefore make the accounting and audit process efficient and beneficial to all stakeholders. As part of our standard independent examination services we also provide guidance and advice to management on how to improve services and how to make the charity run in a more efficient manner.

We provide audit and assurance services to not for profit organisations. These include campaigning organisations and other entities created to carry out research, but which are set up with the aim of being "not for profit" type businesses.

There are important considerations when planning and undertaking an audit for the "not for profit" sector and MG Group are experts in this area.

We act for a variety of property related business clients. Due to the large asset value of property companies, the majority of these types of companies will require an audit, even with the alignment of audit thresholds with the small company threshold criteria. Especially if there is a disposal of any properties in a period, it is likely that the audit thresholds will be breached.

Property companies can be complex with complicated group structures, and sometimes involving overseas ownership issues. The whole range of taxes need to be considered when dealing with property related matters, including all the major taxes - income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, VAT, stamp duty and in many cases inheritance tax.

We can provide a range of audit services for property type businesses, including audits of service charge calculations.

We have built up a portfolio of clients in the engineering sector - this is a specialist sector which involves consideration of a number of issues, including issues around valuation of assets, sometimes issues around revenue recognition, issues around valuation of stock, and often there will be bank finance or hire purchase arrangements in place which can lead to some complex accounting treatments.

We pride ourselves in being specialists within the engineering sector - a sector that has sadly been in much decline in recent decades. However, it appears that at the higher end of the market that many companies are relying on the expertise and precision skills of UK companies to deliver top quality products, with minimum defects, rather than some other developing world products.

We are proud to have specialist audit skills within this important sector of the UK economy.

Solicitors Accounts Rules audits are specialist audits of the client accounts of solicitors. It is important to ensure that full and complete checklists are maintained and to ensure that any breaches (even very trivial ones) are reported. It is a fact that the SRA generally expect that around 70% of solicitors' practices will have a breach - albeit a minor one, and it is therefore essential that these are picked up the audit teams.

Our audit approach to Solicitors' Accounts Rules (SAR) audits is to ensure that the audit provides a "value add" service for the client - this is achieved by providing information to clients on areas where we see the possibility of improvements.

In recent years the old 1998 rules have been replaced with the new SAR 2011 rules. This brings many more firms within the rules, as they now apply to any type of business that has a client account maintained.

We are experienced in completing occupational pension scheme audits. This is a specialist audit assignment which is based on the broad principles of international auditing standards (ISA's) but then applies these in the context of occupational pension scheme audits.

There are a variety of different occupational pension schemes.

MG Group's experience in dealing with trusts assists us with fully understanding the trust deed used for the particular pension scheme.

As well as completing our statutory responsibilities as independent auditors, we will also provide the trustees of the scheme with advice and guidance in relation to their fiduciary duties as trustees.

Further to the introduction of the Solicitors Accounts Rules 2011 - it is now a requirement for any business that holds a client account to have an annual audit of their client account.

MG Group are highly experienced in this niche audit sector. We have acted for solicitors and estate agent clients for a number of years, providing client account audits, and are well versed with the issues that arise in such audits.

We would be delighted to discuss your requirements with you and to tailor our services to your particular needs.