On 19 November 2014 the SRA issued its latest consultation
document on the SRA Accounts Rules and the role of the Reporting
Accountant.
In short, the SRA is now proposing the following:
-
A redefinition of the circumstances in which accountant's
reports are qualified;
-
Changes to the format and content of the accountant's
report;
-
Removing rule 39 of the Accounts Rules (Test Procedures) in its
entirety, and replacing it with a new rule requiring reporting
accountants to use their professional judgement;
-
Exempting some practices from the requirement to obtain an
accountant's report;
Why is the SRA doing this?
First of all, the SRA feels that too many accountant's
reports are qualified for fairly trivial reasons, and as a result
most do not reveal any significant risk to client monies. The SRA
acknowledges that much of this is due to the levels of precision
required by the Accounts Rules, and also the fact that reporting
accountants are
