BS: Interfering Directors

Subject: BS: Interfering Directors
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 07 Sep 18 - 02:50 AM

Feeling stressed.

After postponing an audit because the office manager had a hissy fit because the date was while she was on holiday even though she has little or know involvement during the audit visit, but she considers herself so important that she has to be there.

new date set, while I am on holiday - so they will be carrying it out with no-one present to answer questions.

Auditors sent their documentation list on Wednesday afternoon.

Treasurer (who has only been with the organisation since mid July 18) has interfered with computerised accounts, so I have had to spend 2 days rebalancing what was before a perfectly balance and reconciled set of accounts - including making a change to the prior year - audit figures. Spent a day yesterday going through the computerised books to FRS 102 excel audit trail to track down a £100 balance sheet discrepancy on the finial accounts - wasted the day looking at 2017/2018 figures, though it was a 16/17 figure somewhere that has been changed.

All this because the treasurer wanted to present to the auditor 'perfect' books.   I now have 24 hours to track down the prior year adjustment - and prepare the audit lead schedules - even though the amount changed is well within the auditor's immateriality levels.

If the auditors have any question, rather than me being able to answer them on the spot, they will need to wait 10 days until I get back to London - unless (of course) they are happy to take the charity's computers, and paper records to Nova Scotia for a day to have a meeting withme (at their expense).

All this will probably add to the audit cost - which I object to as smaller charities are increasing financially hard pressed. The auditors should have been professional enough to refuse to carry out an audit visit on a date when the finance manger is abroad.

Subject: RE: BS: Interfering Directors
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 07 Sep 18 - 03:57 AM

And you didn't have a copy of the accounts before they were interfered with?

Subject: RE: BS: Interfering Directors
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 07 Sep 18 - 04:18 AM

Yes, fortunately, but I have gone too far down the road with working on the revised figures.

Subject: RE: BS: Interfering Directors
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 07 Sep 18 - 05:13 AM

Was the £100 material? That is all that should matter to auditors. We use VT Transaction/Final Accounts for clients' FRS102 accounts which is a very good excel based system.

Subject: RE: BS: Interfering Directors
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 07 Sep 18 - 07:18 AM

Only to the extent that it was throwing the balance sheet out of balance - and it was all down to the Treasurer wanting to show off to the board how clever she is. It is bad enough that there will be no-one present at the examination that understands FRS 102/Charity SORP.

My method is to use my own excel knowledge to prepare the audit trail, and word for the final documument (the latter for no other reason than the previous treasurer used word, and I did not have time or energy to get everything aligned properly in excel. Now I can use the res tof the time I have available for pulling the 'audit records file' together - which I shpuld have been allowed to start weeks ago.