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Services
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AAT Licensed Accountants
Services included in this tier are:
Tier 1 service details
Limited assurance engagement – Assurance about businesses or clients
Expressing a conclusion designed to enhance the degree of confidence of intended users (other than the client) about the outcome of the evaluation or measurement of a subject matter against criteria.
Assurance engagements may be assurance based - where the evaluation or measurement of the subject matter is performed by the member or client, and the subject matter information is in the form of an assertion by the member that is made available to intended users.
Assurance engagements may be direct reporting based - where the member either directly performs the evaluation or measurement of the subject matter - or obtains a representation from the client or other preparer that has performed the evaluation or measurement that is not available to the intended users. The subject matter information is provided to intended users in the assurance report.
It is a mandatory requirement that licensed members undertaking a Limited Assurance Engagement use the following wording in the accountant’s report "... nothing has come to our attention to refute the principals’ confirmation that the financial statements give a true and fair view ...".
The member is allowed to add additional caveats as they deem necessary to further reduce the level of risk, for example by specifying which third parties can rely on the financial statements.
The licence service Limited Assurance Engagement specifically excludes Independent Examinations as this is a separate service area (even though an Independent Examination may be perceived to be a form of assurance engagement).
Independent Examination – Small Charities Examination
A review of the accounting records kept by a charity and a comparison with the accounts presented, seeking out unusual items or disclosures identified, in accordance with the requirements set out in paragraph 145 of the Charities Act 2011, and conducted in compliance with the Independent Examination of Charity Accounts: Examiners’ Guide from time to time in force.
Company Secretarial Services (trust or company services) – Companies House duties A to Z
Under the Money Laundering Regulations, a trust or company service provider is any company or sole practitioner whose business includes:
forming firms or other legal persons
arranging for another person to act as:
- director or secretary of a company
- partner (or in a similar position) for other legal persons
- trustee of an express trust or similar legal arrangement
- nominee shareholder for a person other than a company whose securities are listed on a regulated market which is subject to acceptable disclosure requirements
providing a registered office, business address, correspondence or administrative address or other relates services for a company, partnership or any other legal person or arrangement
acting, or arranging for another person to act, as:
- a trustee of an express trust or similar legal arrangement, or
- a nominee shareholder for a person other than a company whose securities are listed on a regulated market.
Internal audit – Checking your business health
An organisation (business, charity, public sector organisation, etc) may want to carry out an internal audit to assess the effectiveness of management, financial controls and governance processes with a view to improvement. The person(s) who undertakes the internal audit may be:
- an employee of the organisation (larger organisations may have an Internal Audit department)
- a suitably qualified external accountant engaged on a consultancy basis.
The results and report from the internal audit are generally used internally by management within the organisation, unlike a statutory audit where the audit report and accompanying financial statements are intended for external users (shareholders, investors, etc).
Forensic accounting – We are not providing this service yet, so this section is for information only
Forensic accounting is the area of accountancy that results from actual or anticipated disputes, litigation or legal proceedings where the forensic accountant is engaged to:
- investigate, examine or analyse financial information and relevant non-financial information and inform the client of their findings
- where required, give expert evidence in legal proceedings.
The services of a forensic accountant may be required in, for examples, personal injury claims, matrimonial disputes, criminal cases, commercial dispute, insurance claims, professional negligence claims and so on.
As an AAT Licensed Accountant offering forensic accounting as a service, you should ensure that:
- you make your Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) provider aware that you are offering this service
- your PII policy covers your work in this area.