Costs of Extermal Auditors

Fletch

Fletch

Striker
Anyone have dealings with External auditors coming into work (mainly the big audit companies ).
I would class us as a small-medium size co , profit bout 300 k pa but only handful of staff , the auditors we use have quoted £29k to do next years audit (and£5k to calculate our corporation tax ).
Are we getting out pants pulled down or is that the norm .
Ideally we only want our accounts audited not all the systems etc etc .
Interested if any other posters deal with the big auditing companies
 


We are a 20 company group, £1bn turnover but EY are charging £40k a pop, even for the smaller companies.

Can't speak to the audit but £5k for CT is an absolute piss take, even if it's a complex return

Having worked at big 4, could it be they are just quoting themselves out of a job they have no interest in doing? I know I have done that before.
 
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Fletch said:
Anyone have dealings with External auditors coming into work (mainly the big audit companies ).
I would class us as a small-medium size co , profit bout 300 k pa but only handful of staff , the auditors we use have quoted £29k to do next years audit (and£5k to calculate our corporation tax ).
Are we getting out pants pulled down or is that the norm .
Ideally we only want our accounts audited not all the systems etc etc .
Interested if any other posters deal with the big auditing companies
Click to expand...
Get a quote from a firm that is smaller than the one you have. Does the company exceed the audit threshold
 
Fletch said:
Anyone have dealings with External auditors coming into work (mainly the big audit companies ).
I would class us as a small-medium size co , profit bout 300 k pa but only handful of staff , the auditors we use have quoted £29k to do next years audit (and£5k to calculate our corporation tax ).
Are we getting out pants pulled down or is that the norm .
Ideally we only want our accounts audited not all the systems etc etc .
Interested if any other posters deal with the big auditing companies
Click to expand...
Wow that's expensive. As has been said the big companies pricing themselves out of a job they probably don't want.
£5K for corporation tax is absolutely obscene unless its extremely complicated.

I can put you in touch with the MD at our place if you like be happy to have a meeting and give you a quote see what you think........
 
Kevj said:
But if they’ve seen this company performing at 15%+ operating margin, they may be assessing the costs on that rather than turnover.
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It doesn’t sound on any basis, whether turnover or likely complexity that fees of £29k would be warranted.
In my job I deal with everything from SME through to Large Multi nationals and I think from what Fletch says about the company that it seems on the high side.
 
TommyB said:
Wow that's expensive. As has been said the big companies pricing themselves out of a job they probably don't want.
£5K for corporation tax is absolutely obscene unless its extremely complicated.

I can put you in touch with the MD at our place if you like be happy to have a meeting and give you a quote see what you think........
Click to expand...
One thing for sure we will be less than £34K all in.....
 
Poo Butties said:
We are a 20 company group, £1bn turnover but EY are charging £40k a pop, even for the smaller companies.

Can't speak to the audit but £5k for CT is an absolute piss take, even if it's a complex return

Having worked at big 4, could it be they are just quoting themselves out of a job they have no interest in doing? I know I have done that before.
Click to expand...
Crossed my mind that they find the job a reall ballache as this years has dragged on forever , there’s huge volume of transactions and monies going in and out of the company every month (over &150M pa) , we just the middle man in list of it and get a fee , so our revenue (turnover ) is at max £2m pa .
They want to extend the audit into
Our IT systems etc

Past few month amount of audit queries has been ridiculous , almost a full time role assisting the audit
 
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Cee Jay said:
It doesn’t sound on any basis, whether turnover or likely complexity that fees of £29k would be warranted.
In my job I deal with everything from SME through to Large Multi nationals and I think from what Fletch says about the company that it seems on the high side.
Click to expand...

I’m not for a second suggesting that the proposed fees aren’t extortionate. I’m implying that financial auditors are in a privileged position whereby they can see what profits are being achieved and cut their cloth accordingly. Certainly if you choose to contract a larger reputable firm.
 
Do you actually need an audit??
Your company may qualify for an audit exemption if it has at least 2 of the following:

an annual turnover of no more than £10.2 million
  • assets worth no more than £5.1 million
  • 50 or fewer employees on average
 
Fletch said:
No , turnover say £2m , profit 3-400k, only handful employees , although do have shareholders
Click to expand...
No need for auditor unless it is in constitution. That is an absolute rip off
Fletch said:
Crossed my mind that they find the job a reall ballache as this years has dragged on forever , there’s huge volume of transactions and monies going in and out of the company every month (over &150M pa) , we just the middle man in list of it and get a fee , so our revenue (turnover ) is at max £2m pa .
They want to extend the audit into
Our IT systems etc

Past few month amount of audit queries has been ridiculous , almost a full time role assisting the audit
Click to expand...
Actually might be more complicated than I thought. However, get a few firms in to quote for minimum statutory compliance. Then you can add stuff on
 
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Speaking as an audit partner in a very small firm that continues to perform audits it seems high. However you do need more information to see what has been required. Traditionally the Big 4 have undersold audit and fees have been low and they have moved to increase

I suppose do you need a Big 4 firm. Could a small firm do what they do.

I have worked in audit for the Big 4, trained with a top 8 and worked in a top 2o firm. As I said we are now a two partner audit providing firm but fees do vary

As someone has also said do you need an audit. There may be commercial reasons why you do.
 
Ahybody recommend a north east company who do full external audits on the annual accounts and do corporation tax calcs and advice ?
Not the big4 as too expensive but also not some bloke in his home office on own.
Cheers
 

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