Accountants bill for annual company review?

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Hi Guys

My brother changed accountants last year and had his accounts audited, which resulted in him paying €7k for the privilage. The accounts were standard enough except that he changed his year end, so last years accounts were a 10 month set of accounts. I know that a letter would have to be sent to the CRO for a change of NARD date.

His accountants have now sent him a bill for €480 for the following.

1. Professional fee in connection with the maintenance and up dating of the seven statutory registers of the company.

2. Preparation of minutes of a directors meeting approving signing of the annual accounts, a consent to short notice waiver, minutes of the annual general meeting.

3. Arranging for a companies registration office search to be carried out in the register of companies office and discharging search outlays and fees, reviewing any registered mortgages or charges and filling memoranda of satosfaction ( where appropriate).

4. General review of the constitutional documentation of the company and memorandum and articles of association.

This is to be for the period 1 July 2006 - 30 June 2007. His year end was 31 may 2007 and his accounts were signed out within a few weeks of his year end. I know a couple of hundred euro is not much but should all of the above not be included in the €7k he was charged for the audit.
Plus we dont know what half of the above means. So any help would be great.
He is going to question the bill with his accountants next week but just said we would mention it here first for a heads up.
 
I must try and get in here before Rabbit!

The CoSec fee is not excessive compared to what many firms charge for annual CoSec compliance, but if your brother thinks the overall fee level is excessive for the amount of work involved, by all means question it with the new accountants. However, surely he got a fee quote from his new accountants before he moved. Tell him to shop around for alternative fee quotes, but if he chose his new accountants because of their size and reputation, don't be surprised to have to pay more.

Changing the financial year-end date does not require notification to the CRO, but changing the Annual Return Date might, for example if it had to be extended by filing a B1 and a B73. Otherwise the old ARD would still apply.

Why did he need to be audited this year - did he file late, or has his company exceeded the audit exemption thresholds? If the latter, his company will undoubtedly involve more year-end accounts preparation work, hence a larger fee.
 
Hi oopsbuddy

Thanks for that, he doesnt have a problem with the €7k because of his line of work he needs to have an audited set of accounts every year. He just taught that the work carried out on the other invoice for €480 would have been included in the €7k bill. plus we dont under stand what the other bill is for, take point

2. Preparation of minutes of a directors meeting approving signing of the annual accounts, a consent to short notice waiver, minutes of the annual general meeting.

Surely that would have been included in the 7k fee, is it not part of the year end accounts procedure.

or point 1
1. Professional fee in connection with the maintenance and up dating of the seven statutory registers of the company

Sorry for appearing stupid but what are the 7 statutory registers?

or point 4
4. General review of the constitutional documentation of the company and memorandum and articles of association

Why would this need to be done if they moa & aoa havent changed since the company formed?



Thanks for your feedback
 
Its impossible to tell whether the €480 bill is fair without knowing the what was or was not included in the €7k bill and the terms agreed. By focusing exclusively on the €480 (approx 6% of the total of €7,480) you run the risk of missing the bigger picture if the €7k fee was excessive.
 
Preparation of the minutes and annual return and doing a company search etc are all part of the year-end company compliance work, but not a part of preparing or auditing the accounts. Whether or not the fee should be included in the €7k is for negotiation with the accountants. The company must file its approved accounts annually at the CRO along with its annual return.

The other stuff described is 'standard' stuff listed on CoSec/compliance bills, and while the M&A may not have changed, the accountants will nonetheless have to check that there have been no changes to them, or to the statutory registers, or if there have been any, they must be reflected in the appropriate documentation.

The seven statutory registers are the Registers of:

Allotments
Members
Transfers
Directors
Mortgages and Debentures
Directors and Secretarial Holdings
Directors and Secretaries Interests in Securities
 

Couldn't agree more. However, at least you can now understand what the work listed in the additional invoice was. I also meant to say earlier that some decent negotiation should be able to have the extra fee knocked off the total because it is only approx 6%.
 
Sorry to sound uncaring but if you contract someone to do work for you and you do not get a quote or agree what the fees cover then you are asking for trouble!
When you appointed the accountant/auditor you would have received a letter of engagement which would cover the fees chargeable by the accountant and how/when they are to be charged. Sounds to me that the company is either in a specialist area or is a large company. Financial services/Auctioneer/etc?? If so then the audit fee may be justified. The company sec invoice would normally be included in any fee that I would charge as the work is usually undertaken at the same time as the accounts/audit. However other firms have different practices and may have a seperate unit dealing with the statutory work and if so the fee is not un-reasonable. I would not charge this much but I would like to! Please remember that the work is specialised and the accountant is in a high risk area subject to civil action and, as an accountant that was recently reviewed by my institute, are subject to strict quality control inspections. To reach their level of qualification many accountants spend years in college and then post grad professional exams as well as continuing professional development - numerous courses, literature and time spend where no bills are issued!
 
simplyjoe said:
When you appointed the accountant/auditor you would have received a letter of engagement which would cover the fees chargeable by the accountant and how/when they are to be charged.
Click to expand...

Really ? We have had work done by two seperate firms of accountants who never indicated "the fees chargeable by the accountant and how/when they are to be charged ".
 
The issuing of engagement letters is recommended as good practice but is not mandatory except for statutory audit assignments.
 
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