I was interested to read the Review update dated December from the Professional Oversight Board (an operating body of the FRC). The report ( a Review of how accountants support the needs of small and medium sized companies and their stakeholders)suggests that many company directors of small businesses and users of unaudited reports don't fully understand the role of the accountancy profession in the preparation of accounts. As a result, the POB's research seems to indicate that many users of unaudited accounts filed at Companies House would hold them in higher esteem if the role of accountants in preparing them was better explained. However, not everyone in the profession agrees on the benefits that may accrue if the accountant's role in unaudited accounts was more transparent. Accountants could be accused of hiding their light under a bushel if , through over caution, thay appear to distance themselves from the work they undertake on behalf of smaller firms to provide competent professional services to their clients.

December 24, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Only a few days ago on this blog, I mentioned that commercial fraudsters become very active around Christmas time, and this year is no exception. Graydon has informed the Met Police about a company that has been advertising every day in various newspapers that they can deliver i-pods etc with guaranteed delivery before Christmas.Nothing wrong with that....... until you read the company's fictitious accounts at Companies Registry. The accounts, for the first year of trading ended 30th April 2007,show a 13 million pound turnover. However, Graydon had received no credit report requests from suppliers during this entire period. However, in recent days, we have received many requests from companies wanting to do checks. It appears that the 2007 accounts have been audited by a firm called Patel and Davies of Stanmore, Middlesex but we can't trace them.

I hope few members of the public have ordered through this company, but it's clear the newspapers involved may have trouble getting paid for the advertising space this company has bought.

It also brings to light the serious issues relating to the quality of data being filed for public consumption at Companies House.At least some credit agencies are striving to fight fraud.

December 7, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Graydon researchers have discovered that of the 1, 200,000 or so sets of accounts for the 2006 fiscal year filed at Companies House, only 13% of them were fully audited. This is of course the result of the  government's introduction of the audit threshold rules in 2004, aimed at helping small businesses save money and relieving them of legislative burden. Well, it looks as if most UK businesses have taken advantage of the new rules, but I'm a little concerned about the degradation in the quality of credible data being filed at the Registry. Credit agencies like the one I run are using information from Companies House every day to help credit score companies, and when you come across unaudited "balance sheets" that hmmmmm, don't balance, for instance, it makes you start to wonder whether you can trust the other financial data there.No wonder some credit agencies are investing in other types of credit information like trade payment data in order to produce credit reports in the future. It's a shame, because in terms of public record information, the UK was once the toast of the world.I wonder how we stack up now?   

December 5, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)