Sharing Bank Account Details

[sher]

I am in the process of finalising my annual business and personal tax returns (for my limited liability company which provides consulting service on contract basis). I have passed all the details (complete with vouchers, invoices etc.) to my accountant to finalise the accounts. Despite having all the necessary details, my accountant is insisting on me sharing the business account bank statement. Not that I have anything to hide, but I'm bit wary of doing full monty on the business account, when the accountant has all the necessary details (with supporting documents) to be able to finalise the account. To my mind, I hired an "accountant" not an "auditor" for my account.

Is it a standard practice for accountants to mandatorily ask for review of business bank account? Is it necessary for me to share the bank statements with my accountant? Since this is my first year getting my accounts done by an acccountant, I don't know what the standard practice is; hence the question.

[Clare@InTouch]

I'm not sure why you'd be concerned about it, unless you're worried about them seeing something you've not told them about.....? Whilst it's true that we prepare accounts and do not carry out an audit, we still have to carry out some form of due diligence in order to satisfy ourselves that the accounts give a true & fair view. Part of that process is reconciling the bank account - for which we'd ask for a copy of the closing bank statement at least. If it balances to your records, great. If not, we'd ask for more statements.

An accountant cannot prepare accounts purely on the basis of what you say without any checking whatsoever. And would you really want them to? The more information you provide the more chance there is that they can highlight any problems before Hector spots them!

[northernladuk]

Did it not explain this in your engagement documentation when you started with them?

[quackhandle]

I've shared them with mine (NW) every year, can't see the problem unless you do have something to hide.

How can your accountant prepare proper returns without checking your business account? I maybe wrong, but isn't part of running a business properly/legally is actually proving to HMRC that you can do just that?

qh

[sher]

As I clarified, I have nothing to hide and I (given my debut year) only want to know if the practice is standard.

I thought that having submitted all the legitimate invoices, receipts, expense vouchers etc. in scanned form to the accountant, bank account statement was a redundant requirement.

[Clare@InTouch]

As I clarified, I have nothing to hide and I (given my debut year) only want to know if the practice is standard.

I thought that having submitted all the legitimate invoices, receipts, expense vouchers etc. in scanned form to the accountant, bank account statement was a redundant requirement.

Not at all - if you say you've had sales of £10,000 then seeing a closing bank statement is a good way to gauge whether that's accurate and complete. It's not about catching you out, it's about checking you've not accidentally forgotten to include that invoice for £90,000 you issued, and that we're happy to sign off the accounts as a fair reflection. People assume accounts prepared by Chartered Accountants can be relied upon to be accurate, so we have to carry out at least a certain standard of diligence to ensure a high probability of that.

It's not infallible of course, but something as simple as checking the bank balance at year end helps.

[Andrew@Wisteria]

As I clarified, I have nothing to hide and I (given my debut year) only want to know if the practice is standard.

I thought that having submitted all the legitimate invoices, receipts, expense vouchers etc. in scanned form to the accountant, bank account statement was a redundant requirement.

If anything the bank statement is the most important item! (IMO) - Best 3rd party evidence

[SueEllen]

Yes it is standard practise to give your accountant your bank statements.

[northernladuk]

As I clarified, I have nothing to hide and I (given my debut year) only want to know if the practice is standard.

I thought that having submitted all the legitimate invoices, receipts, expense vouchers etc. in scanned form to the accountant, bank account statement was a redundant requirement.

Another post on this topic so you can set your mind at rest.....

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...ant-legit.html

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

Standard practice.

If everything balances on the face of it, eg in excel, then we would just ask for final bank statement to evidence or clients certification that they are sure its correct. INOW its standard practice, but doesn't have to be.