Whats required to change auditor

[manwithvan]

When an auditor is resigning for a company and the company reappoints a new auditor between tax years are there any forms submitted to inform the CRO of the change or is the note on the annual accounts sufficient?

 

[andrewol]

Generally you need to hold an AGM or Egm to do this, you notify the auditor in advance, and generally will let them know that they are not going to be reappointed.
There is a minimum of 1 months notice required far as i know, seeing as they are resigning i cant imagine too much hassle.

Then your new auditor will send a professional clearance letter to them when they are appointed to get the info. After that, the new auditor will generally file the CRO forms and set themselves up for revenue notifications. There is a CRO form, cant think of the number off the top of my head but your new accountant will look it up.

There is a small bit more specific stuff but thats the general gist of what happens.

 

[manwithvan]

Thanks, will the old auditor charge a fee for the hand over of documents or as I have copies of all the docs the submitted is there any need to request the info off them?

 

[RonanC]

Section 185 of 1990 Act -
(1) An auditor of a company may, by a notice in writing that complies with subsection (2) served on the company and stating his intention to do so, resign from the office of auditor to the company; and the resignation shall take effect on the date on which the notice is so served or on such later date as may be specified in the notice.
(2) A notice under subsection (1) shall contain either—
(a) a statement to the effect that there are no circumstances connected with the resignation to which it relates that the auditor concerned considers should be brought to the notice of the members or creditors of the company, or
(b) a statement of any such circumstances as aforesaid.

(3) Where a notice under subsection (1) is served on a company —
(a) the auditor concerned shall, within 14 days after the date of such service, send a copy of the notice to the registrar of companies, and
(b) subject to subsection (4), the company shall, if the notice contains a statement referred to in subsection (2) (b), not later than 14 days after the date of such service send a copy of the notice to every person who is entitled under section 159 (1) of the Principal Act to be sent copies of the documents referred to in the said section 159 (1).

(4) Copies of a notice served on a company under subsection (1) need not be sent to the persons specified in subsection (3) (b) if, on the application of the company concerned or any other person who claims to be aggrieved, the court is satisfied that the notice contains material which has been included to secure needless publicity for defamatory matter and the court may order the company's costs on an application under this section to be paid in whole or in part by the auditor concerned notwithstanding that he is not a party to the application.

(5) This section shall also apply to a notice given by an auditor under section 160 (2) (c) of The Principal Act, indicating his unwillingness to be re-appointed.

(6) A person who fails to comply with subsection (2) or (3) (a) shall be guilty of an offence.

(7) If default is made in complying with subsection (3) (b), the company concerned, and every officer of such company who is in default, shall be guilty of an offence.

The new auditor is not required to file any forms with the CRO. It is the responsibility of the resigning auditor to forward a copy of his notice of resignation to the CRO

 

[andrewol]

I stand corrected on who files the form! - my bad, should have double read it. Either way, is not massively significant as im sure the resigning auditor will be double checking their responsibilities.

As regards fee's - dont know, as they are resigning and you may have a good working relationship possibly not, also probably depends on whether you have any outstanding invoices with them.

 

[Graham_07]

Thanks, will the old auditor charge a fee for the hand over of documents or as I have copies of all the docs the submitted is there any need to request the info off them?

You may not have all that the new auditor needs even if you have the last financial statements etc. as there will be some balances amalgamated and a detailed closing trial balance will be needed by the new auditor along with other tax computations etc.

In any event professional etiquette demands correspondence between the incumbent and incoming auditors and they usually pass between them what's needed.

Any outstanding invoices for fees need to be cleared together with any work done since last fees paid and not yet invoiced.

I would not normally charge for providing the changeover information.