Audit & Assurance Services in London

A statutory audit is an independent examination of a company's financial statements, required under the Companies Act 2006 for companies that exceed the small-company thresholds — or demanded by lenders, investors, regulators or group parent companies even where an exemption would otherwise apply. Our audits are planned around risk: we spend time understanding your business, your systems and where misstatements are most likely to arise, so the work is focused rather than box-ticking.

Alongside year-end statutory audits we carry out interim audits, performing substantive and controls testing part-way through the financial year. Interim work spreads the audit effort, surfaces issues while there is still time to fix them, and shortens the year-end close — particularly valuable for groups with tight reporting deadlines.

Every audit concludes with more than an opinion. We report the control weaknesses, accounting issues and efficiency opportunities we observe along the way, in language management can actually act on.

Producing accurate financial statements on time is a discipline, and many finance teams struggle with a slow or error-prone month-end and year-end close. Our financial reporting advisory work helps you design and embed a faster, more reliable close process: standardised journals and reconciliations, clear task ownership, sensible use of estimates and accruals, and a reporting timetable that holds.

We also support finance teams on complex or judgemental accounting matters — revenue recognition, leases, financial instruments, share-based payments, group consolidations and first-time preparation of statutory accounts under FRS 102 or IFRS. Whether you need a technical accounting paper for your auditors, help drafting disclosures, or hands-on assistance closing the books during a period of change, we provide experienced support without the cost of a permanent hire.

Not every situation needs a full audit. We offer a range of assurance engagements matched to the level of comfort you — or the third party relying on the information — actually need:

• Interim review of financial statements — a review engagement (typically under ISRE 2410) giving limited assurance on half-year or quarterly figures, commonly required for listed entities and groups reporting to overseas parents.
• Agreed-upon procedures (AUP) — we perform specific procedures you and any third party agree in advance (for example, verifying grant expenditure, royalty calculations, service charge accounts or covenant compliance) and report our factual findings.
• Examination of prospective financial information — independent examination of forecasts and projections prepared for lenders, investors or a prospectus, assessing whether the assumptions provide a reasonable basis and the information is properly compiled.
• Special audits and compliance reports — bespoke examinations of a specific area, contract, regulatory requirement or suspected irregularity, with a report tailored to the party who needs it.

Because these engagements are scoped precisely, they are usually quicker and more cost-effective than a general-purpose audit while still giving the recipient the assurance they need.

Listed entities — and increasingly their significant subsidiaries — must demonstrate that internal controls over financial reporting (ICOFR) are designed and operating effectively. We carry out ICOFR reviews that map your key financial reporting processes, identify the controls that actually prevent or detect material misstatement, test their design and operating effectiveness, and report gaps with practical remediation steps.

For UK subsidiaries of overseas listed groups, we align our work with the parent's framework — whether that is US SOX-style documentation, the UK Corporate Governance Code or another regime — so group reporting deadlines are met without duplicated effort.

Inventory and fixed assets are often the largest and least-verified numbers on a balance sheet. Our stock audit work includes attendance at physical stock counts, independent test counts, review of counting procedures, cut-off testing and valuation review — whether for a statutory audit, a lender's comfort, or an internal check on shrinkage and record accuracy.

On fixed assets lifecycle management, we help businesses establish control over assets from acquisition to disposal: physical verification exercises, reconciliation of the fixed asset register to the general ledger and to what actually exists on site, componentisation and useful-life reviews, impairment indicators, and policies for capitalisation, transfers and disposals. The result is a register you can rely on — and depreciation charges that reflect reality.

Changing accounting framework is one of the most disruptive projects a finance team can face. We support the full journey:

• IFRS impact assessment — a structured diagnostic identifying which standards will materially change your reported numbers, systems, data and covenants before you commit to conversion.
• GAAP assessment — analysis of the differences between your current framework (for example FRS 102 or an overseas GAAP) and the target framework, line by line across the financial statements.
• IFRS implementation — hands-on conversion support: opening balance sheet adjustments, accounting policy drafting, transition disclosures, restated comparatives, and training so your team can maintain IFRS reporting confidently after we step back.

We also advise on individual standards causing difficulty — IFRS 9, IFRS 15 and IFRS 16 are frequent culprits — producing technical papers your auditors can rely on.

Transactions and regulatory filings bring their own specialist reporting requirements, and we support companies and their advisers through them:

• Comfort letters for debt offerings — reporting accountant support to issuers and underwriters on bond and other debt issuances, providing negative assurance and agreed procedures over financial information included in offering documents.
• XBRL filing — tagging and filing of accounts in iXBRL format as required by HMRC and Companies House, including validation against the relevant taxonomy so submissions are accepted first time.
• Translation of financial statements — preparation of financial statements in an alternative presentation currency or restated under a different framework for overseas parents, investors or regulators, with the accounting judgements documented and supportable.

We have served businesses from our New Eltham office since 1991, and our audit approach reflects that longevity: partner-led engagements, continuity of team from year to year, and a genuine understanding of owner-managed businesses, subsidiaries of international groups, charities and regulated entities alike.

Clients across Eltham, Sidcup, Bromley, Greenwich and the wider London area choose us because we are large enough to handle technically demanding engagements, yet small enough that you deal directly with the people doing the work. Fees are agreed in advance, timetables are honoured, and our reporting tells you things worth knowing — not boilerplate.