Financial Accounts Disclosures - Steve Collings is required

stefanboro

I have recently produced a set of accounts for a company who has a high net worth investor. The investor has his own sort of consultants (actually, they market themselves as venture capitalists but having met them several times they are clearly lapdogs to the investor. Anyway...).

The sister of one of these guys is an accountant and the accounts last year were done by her. Since I have took over this role they have done everything to try and rip me to shreds and make me look stupid to the investor and to the MD of the company. Thankfully it worked in reverse as I found and verified a £50k prior year adjustment.

Where they did kick up a massive and quite public fuss was with the notes to the accounts. They demanded things in both full and abbreviated which so far as I am aware did not need to be there - indeed, a lot of the time my VT software did not even include any provision for the required notes. This is fine, I know it can happen and you just add the information yourself, but I just knew what they were asking was pedantic and non-mandatory.

Or did I? It has made me question my own knowledge to disclosure requirements. I have read useful guides from Steve Collings below:

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/article/10-disclosures-practitioners-get-wrong/525956

And

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/financial-reporting/accountingweb-guide-accounts-related-disclosures

What I am wondering, can anybody point me in the right direction for something like a textbook on the matter?

jamesm96

stefanboro wrote: »

I have recently produced a set of accounts for a company who has a high net worth investor. The investor has his own sort of consultants (actually, they market themselves as venture capitalists but having met them several times they are clearly lapdogs to the investor. Anyway...).

The sister of one of these guys is an accountant and the accounts last year were done by her. Since I have took over this role they have done everything to try and rip me to shreds and make me look stupid to the investor and to the MD of the company. Thankfully it worked in reverse as I found and verified a £50k prior year adjustment.

Where they did kick up a massive and quite public fuss was with the notes to the accounts. They demanded things in both full and abbreviated which so far as I am aware did not need to be there - indeed, a lot of the time my VT software did not even include any provision for the required notes. This is fine, I know it can happen and you just add the information yourself, but I just knew what they were asking was pedantic and non-mandatory.

Or did I? It has made me question my own knowledge to disclosure requirements. I have read useful guides from Steve Collings below:

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/article/10-disclosures-practitioners-get-wrong/525956

And

http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/topic/financial-reporting/accountingweb-guide-accounts-related-disclosures

What I am wondering, can anybody point me in the right direction for something like a textbook on the matter?

I'm not sure if this is really going to be especially helpful, but we use disclosure checklists here on our bigger jobs. I've actually just bought one for a medium-sized group client of ours (it's an electronic one so you answer some preliminary questions and it clears out any irrelevant questions). We paid something in the order of £190 for that, I think. There are paper copies available for less but they take much longer to go through and they're still not exactly cheap.

Do you want the websites?

stefanboro

jamesm96 wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is really going to be especially helpful, but we use disclosure checklists here on our bigger jobs. I've actually just bought one for a medium-sized group client of ours (it's an electronic one so you answer some preliminary questions and it clears out any irrelevant questions). We paid something in the order of £190 for that, I think. There are paper copies available for less but they take much longer to go through and they're still not exactly cheap.

Do you want the websites?

Aye go on then pal - thanks :001_smile:

jamesm96

The Pentana one is here: http://www.pentana.com/shop.asp for £288 inc. VAT.

CCH do one too, here: http://www.cch.co.uk/croner/categoryDetails/category/Online-Financial-Reporting/Interactive-Company-Accounts but they don't give a price on their site. I contacted them and they quoted me about £360 + VAT

As far as I'm aware, Pentana used to supply CCH but I'm not sure if that's the case any more; we went for the Pentana one though.

Bluewednesday

Dean Shepherd recommended one that was £50 ish when we purchased it a few years ago, I'll find out what it is tomorrow and post it unless Dean comes on in the meantime

Steve Collings

Apologies for the delay in replying - I have been on holiday.

A reputable disclosure checklist will help in these situations, but will also demonstrate you are complying with best practice. Many accountants believe that disclosure checklists only need completing for non-audit clients - a belief which I do not subscribe to in the slightest!

I have written a disclosure checklist which has now gone on sale through PCP Limited. The UK version is due out very shortly (I'll post details when it is released) but I expect the pricing structure to be the same as my IFRS disclosure checklist.

There have already been other reputable ones mentioned and I can also recommend Mercia as another alternative.

All the best
Steve

Steve Collings

Steve Collings wrote: »

Many accountants believe that disclosure checklists only need completing for non-audit clients - a belief which I do not subscribe to in the slightest!

I meant audit clients, not non-audit clients! Doh!

stefanboro

Thanks for responding - I hope you didn't mind me overtly asking for you!

Steve Collings

Not a problem.

All the best
Steve

Bluewednesday

What we should be doing is nagging and hassling Steve (as I have been doing for the last year or so) to write a FRSSE disclosure checklist!

Dean

Bluewednesday wrote: »

What we should be doing is nagging and hassling Steve (as I have been doing for the last year or so) to write a FRSSE disclosure checklist!

Steve, you're getting around a bit aren't you? You're now appearing in my office down here in sunny Devon!

Regards

Dean