If your practice doesn’t hold audit registration – or you’ve decided to give it up – you still need a registered auditor you can trust when your clients need a statutory audit. One who’ll do the audit properly and give the client back to you when it’s done.
That’s exactly how we work. We’ve partnered with accountancy practices across the UK who refer their audit work to us. The arrangement is simple: we do the statutory audit, you keep the client relationship for everything else.
How the referral arrangement works
You introduce us to your client as your audit partner. We handle the statutory audit engagement under our own ICAEW registration, but we work alongside your practice rather than replacing it. Here’s the process:
- You make the introduction. You tell your client you’re bringing in a registered auditor for the statutory audit work. You stay in control of the relationship.
- We scope the work together. We’ll discuss the client’s situation with you before we quote. You know the business better than we do at this stage, and that context helps us plan the audit efficiently.
- We quote a fixed fee. The fee is agreed upfront with you and your client. No surprises, no scope creep. You can present the quote to your client yourself if you prefer.
- We do the audit. Our registered auditor and audit team carry out the fieldwork, test the balances, and form the audit opinion. We liaise directly with your client’s finance team during fieldwork, but we keep you informed throughout.
- We deliver the audit report. We issue the signed auditor’s report and management letter. If you want us to present the findings to the client alongside you, we’re happy to do that.
- You continue as the primary adviser. Tax returns, accounts preparation, payroll, VAT, management accounts, advisory work – all of that stays with you. We don’t cross the line.
What we do and don’t do
This is important, so we’ll be direct about it.
We do:
- Statutory audit under our ICAEW audit registration
- Sign the independent auditor’s report
- Deliver a management letter with specific, useful recommendations
- Handle all ISA compliance, audit planning, risk assessment and fieldwork
- Communicate with your client’s finance team during the audit process
- Work to your timetable and your client’s year-end deadlines
We don’t:
- Approach your client about tax, accounts, payroll, VAT or any other compliance work
- Market our other services to your client
- Contact your client outside of the audit engagement without your knowledge
- Compete with you for the non-audit relationship
We’ve built our practice on audit. We’re not trying to be your client’s accountant – we already have a parent firm (Jack Ross Chartered Accountants) that handles that side. Our interest is in the audit work, and only the audit work.
Why practices refer audit work to us
We work with practices that have come to us for different reasons. Some have voluntarily surrendered their audit registration because the regulatory burden wasn’t worth it for a handful of audit clients. Some lost their Responsible Individual when a senior partner retired. Some never held audit registration but have clients that have grown past the statutory audit threshold.
The common thread is that they all wanted a registered auditor who would respect the existing client relationship.
“We surrendered our audit registration three years ago”
“Finding an audit firm that would work with us rather than try to take the whole client was the concern. Audit Group have handled seven of our clients’ audits since then. Not one of those clients has been approached for other work. The arrangement works because the boundaries are clear.”
– Managing Partner, Manchester accountancy practice
“Our client grew faster than we expected”
“We’d done the accounts and tax for this client for six years. When they hit the audit threshold, we introduced Audit Group. They did the statutory audit, we kept doing everything else. The client didn’t even consider moving – they saw it as us bringing in a specialist, not as us losing control.”
– Senior Partner, Cheshire practice
“I lost my RI status when my audit partner retired”
“Rather than lose 12 audit clients, I referred them to Audit Group. Three years on, I still handle all their compliance work. The fee I lost on the audits was a fraction of what I’d have lost if the clients had moved entirely. And the audit quality has been consistently high – my clients are happy.”
– Sole practitioner, North West
Common questions from referring practices
What does it cost?
We quote fixed fees for every audit engagement. The fee depends on the client’s size, complexity and sector – the same factors that would have determined your own fee when you held registration. We’ll agree the fee with you before we present it to the client, so there are no surprises.
Do you pay a referral fee?
ICAEW and ACCA ethical standards restrict the payment of referral fees in connection with audit appointments. We comply fully with these rules. The benefit to you is retaining the client for all non-audit work, not a commission on the audit fee.
Who signs the engagement letter?
We do. The audit engagement is between Jack Ross Chartered Accountants (as a registered auditor regulated by the ICAEW) and the client company. We carry the professional liability, the regulatory obligations, and the audit registration requirements. You’re not on the hook.
What if the client asks you about tax or accounts?
We redirect them to you. If a question comes up during audit fieldwork that’s outside the audit scope – and it will, because clients always ask – we tell them to speak to their accountant. If it’s something we think you should know about, we’ll flag it to you directly.
Can you audit a client where we do the accounts?
In most cases, yes. Where a separate firm prepares the accounts and a different firm audits them, auditor independence is straightforward. We carry out our own assessment under the FRC’s Ethical Standard, but in practice this arrangement rarely creates an independence issue. It’s one of the advantages of using a separate audit firm.
What about charities and regulated clients?
We have specific experience in charity audit, SRA audit for solicitors, pension scheme audit, and grant audit including Innovate UK. If your client is in a regulated sector, we’ll have the specialist knowledge to handle the engagement properly.
How long have you been doing this?
Audit Group is the audit arm of Jack Ross Chartered Accountants, established in 1948. We’re ICAEW-regulated and on the Register of Statutory Auditors. Our audit partners are Registered Auditors and Responsible Individuals with combined experience of over 60 years in statutory audit.
Sectors we audit
We carry out statutory audit work across a range of sectors. If your client operates in any of these areas, we’ll have relevant experience:
- Charities and not-for-profit organisations
- Solicitors and law firms (SRA-regulated)
- Pension schemes
- Financial services (FCA-regulated)
- Academy trusts
- Housing associations
- Technology and SaaS companies
- Manufacturing
- Construction
- Owner-managed businesses and private company groups
- UK subsidiaries of overseas parent companies
Talk to us about referring audit work
If you’re an accountancy practice that needs a registered auditor for your clients’ statutory audits, we’d welcome a conversation. No obligation, no pressure, and complete discretion about your client relationships.
Call Umar Memon directly on 0161 832 4451, or fill in the form below and we’ll call you back.
