Chartered Accountants & Registered Auditors
ACCOUNTS PREPARATION
Often managing agents and landlords will outsource the production of the service charge accounts to their accountants. Whilst there is no set format for residential service charge accounts, unless prescribed by the lease, there are a number of best practice guidelines.
We will work with you to agree the format of the accounts and the scope of our involvement; from preparing the accounts based on your final figures, to taking the raw data from your system and calculating all year end journals.
AUDIT OF SERVICE CHARGES
If the lease requires an audit to be performed on the service charge accounts these should be carried out in accordance with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (“ICAEW”) Technical Release 03/11 ‘Residential Service Charge Accounts’.
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We have significant expertise in this area, with Kier having previously been responsible for the sign off of over 2,700 service charge audit opinions annually, and having been part of the working party that produced the ICAEW Technical Release.
This expertise allows us to complete this work in an efficient manner, whilst also ensuring that the audit requirements are met, and that we and you deliver a quality product to the lessees.
FACTUAL FINDINGS REPORT
If an audit is not required then the ICAEW Technical Release proposes that a factual findings scope of work is completed. The Technical Release sets out a programme of work to be followed, although this scope of work can be added to if additional assurance is sought on particular areas of the accounts.
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We have significant expertise in this area, with Kier having previously been responsible for the sign off of over 300 service charge factual findings opinions annually.
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PROCESS REVIEWS OF MANAGING AGENT / LANDLORD SYSTEMS
For managing agents and landlords the accounting for service charge transactions, and the preparation of the year end accounts, should be a well defined and repetitive processes that results in high quality accounts being produced on a timely basis.
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If service charge transactions are accurately recorded throughout the year, the year-end accounts preparation process should be a straightforward and quick exercise. Often we find that part of the year end process is spent correcting original data entry errors (posting to wrong cost category, wrong schedule, wrong scheme, etc.), resulting in an inefficient year end process and the risk that these errors are not identified in the accounts prior to them being sent to the lessees.
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We have worked with a number of managing agents to review their internal processes, identifying potential issues and providing practical recommendations to improve their systems and controls.
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This not only helps to streamline the year end process and improve the quality of the year end accounts, but also allows for the provision of more accurate data throughout the year to allow earlier identification of excess spending against the budget and more accurate data to be provided to lessees throughout the year.
AUTOMATION OF CLIENT PROCESSES
Managing agents and landlords often use Excel to manipulate large volumes of data that have been extracted from their accounting systems to produce the year end accounts and supporting schedules. These processes are often manual in nature and can be inefficient and increase the risk of errors.
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We are experienced in using the advanced features of excel, including Power Query and writing VBA code (used to generate macro routines) to provide solutions that can transform manual processes into automated routines that can be completed at the touch of a button. These save time each time they are used across your portfolio; giving you an excellent return on your investment, ensuring consistency of approach and eliminating manual errors.
DASHBOARD REPORTING
For managing agents and landlords the tracking of the current status of multiple schemes in the accounts process can often involve updating excel spreadsheets each time a task is completed. Often there is little analysis of this data, which can often reveal useful information such as:
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time taken at each stage of the process to help identify bottlenecks or process issues, either internally or with your 3rd party accountants;
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output, both in terms of volume and quality, from members of the service charge accounts team, which can help identify training needs within the team
Using advanced excel techniques, including Power Pivot, we are able to create powerful dashboards from this data that provide the information in an easy to understand format that can be updated regularly at the touch of a button, allowing you to focus your time on identifying and addressing the issues.