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Audit Services

Increase credibility and give shareholders the confidence that your financial records can be relied upon.

Straightforward & hassle-free

Identify growth opportunities

Tailored approach

Experienced auditors

Your key contact

Katie Halsall

Director of Audit & Assurance

Understand how Audit and Assurance work can benefit your company

Schedule a brief, no obligation call with our team today.

Schedule a discovery call

External audit services

An audit is an independent examination and evaluation of your financial records to ensure they truly reflect the transactions that have taken place.

It will become a statutory requirement for your company to have an audit if two or more of the following apply:

  • the company has an annual turnover of more than £10.2 million
  • the company has assets of more than £5.1 million
  • the company has more than 50 employees on average 
"We make audits stress-free and straightforward - no jargon, no headaches, just clear insights."
Katie Halsall
Director of Audit & Assurance

Why should I undertake an audit?

It's a statutory requirement for many businesses
  • A company audit is a statutory obligation for many businesses; however it is often seen as a necessary evil.
  • It can help to improve your company’s internal controls and systems.
  • We try to make the audit process as straightforward as possible so that it serves as an opportunity to fully review and understand your business and identify any areas of weakness. We can then help you work out a plan to address these weak areas and recognise opportunities for growth.
  • The main reasons why you will be required by law to have a statutory audit are:
    • You are a PLC or a banking, insurance or finance company (or a subsidiary of one of these)
    • The size of your business is over the audit threshold (turnover, total assets and number of employees)
    • Your company is part of a larger group
    • You are required by your professional or trade organisation to have your financial records audited
    • Your shareholders do not agree to opting out of the audit 
  • As an audit can provide useful feedback about how your business is operating, companies can have an audit undertaken, even if it is not a statutory requirement. Alternatively, we can undertake an assurance review to provide limited assurance on some aspect of the financial statements. 

How are audits conducted?

At Caldwell Penn, audits are straightforward and hassle-free
  • Our experienced audit team will tailor its approach to your company, ensuring the work is relevant and focused.
  • We will guide you through the process – starting with us obtaining a detailed understanding of the company’s business and accounting systems – so that we can ensure our work is specific to your business.
  • After completing a thorough review of the financial statements, we will undertake our risk assessment, which will enable us to prioritise testing in the key risk areas.
  • Audit testing can take various forms including analytical work, enquiries, system walkthroughs to transaction testing; testing is conducted on a sample basis, with larger samples undertaken in the higher risk areas.
  • As part of the audit, we consider whether the information contained within the company’s financial statements shows a true and fair view of the company’s position.
  • We can offer our audit service alongside the preparation of your financial statements, or as a stand-alone service.
  • In addition to our stringent internal controls, our audit department is regulated by the ICAEW and we are subject to regular reviews.
"We dig into the numbers so you don’t have to - giving you confidence in your financials without the hassle."
Georgia Ludlow
Audit Specialist
"A good audit isn’t just about compliance - it’s about clarity, confidence, and making better business decisions."
Mark Martin
Partner and Director of Tax

What is the end result of an audit?

Stakeholder peace of mind that your financial records are reliable
  • Once we have completed our audit work we issue our audit report.
  • Providing we haven’t identified any significant issues, our report will be unqualified. An unqualified audit report provides full assurance that the financial statements show a true and fair view of the company’s financial position.
  • An unqualified audit report can provide increased credibility to the accounts for its users and a history of financial statements with unqualified audit reports can be important if you ever wish to sell the company.
  • Occasionally we need to qualify our audit report; this could be because we could not obtain all of the information that we needed to in one area or because the evidence that we obtained was in disagreement to the financial statements.
  • An audit provides a perfect opportunity to assess the quality of information you use to make critical decisions, to evaluate your organisation’s overall financial performance, and to help you solve financial challenges.
  • The business knowledge we gain through our audit work can also enable us to provide proactive business advice on many matters and specific, constructive recommendations. 

Members of our Audit team

Katie Halsall

Director of Audit & Assurance

Georgia Ludlow

Audit Specialist

Tom Dobson

Audit Assistant

Lucy Alexander

Audit Assistant

Frequently asked questions

An audit of a company’s financial information is an independent examination of the relevant evidence that supports the numbers and disclosures in the statutory accounts and the significant judgements and estimates made by directors in preparing those financial statements. A statutory audit can only be carried out by a firm of Registered Auditors and aims to provide an independent opinion on the truth and fairness of your financial statements.

A company is legally required to have an audit if it exceeds 2 or more of the following thresholds:

  • £10.2 million turnover
  • Gross assets of £5.1 million
  • 50 employees

Some companies must have an audit even if they do not meet these criteria, including if:

  • it is a charity with turnover over £1 million
  • it is a public company (unless it is dormant)
  • it is a subsidiary (unless it qualifies for an exception
  • it is an authorised insurance company
  • it is involved in banking or issuing e-money
  • it is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
  • it is a corporate body and its shares have been traded on a regulated market in a European state
  • the shareholders request and audit

Even if you are not required to have an audit, you may choose to have one as it adds credibility to the company and provides comfort to the stakeholders that the financial statements show a true and fair view of the state of the company.

Yes, any business can have an audit even if it doesn’t need one as a statutory requirement. An audit will provide stakeholders with a level of comfort over the accuracy of the financial statements as they have been subject to an independent examination. An audit can also provide the company with valuable feedback on areas where you could improve processes or record keeping.

Each company is different and the exact work which will be undertaken will depend upon our risk assessment of your business. It is not possible to test every single transaction within the financial records as this would take too long. Instead we consider the materiality of a balance in order to select samples of transactions to test.

There are three key stages to an audit:

Planning

This includes the administration of the audit, undertaking a risk assessment and designing tests to address the key risks identified .

Gathering evidence

This is the actual testing stage where we gather evidence, which could involve some or all of the following:

  • Discussions with directors and staff
  • Calculating and investigating variances between the current and previous year and between budget and actual results
  • Undertaking tests as designed at the planning stage
  • Evaluating significant judgements and estimates made by the directors
  • Contacting a sample of your suppliers and customers to confirm the amounts that are owed
  • Reviewing the accounting policies and disclosures within the financial statements

Any discrepancies which are found will be discussed with the directors to allow them a chance to adjust the financial statements before they are finalised .

Conclusion

This is where we assess the evidence we have gathered and conclude on whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement. Our opinion will hopefully be ‘unqualified’ which means that we are saying that the financial statements are true and fair.

Information is considered to be ‘material’ if its omission or distortion would impact the users understanding of the financial statements. We base our testing on a how material we consider individual balances to be. Materiality is based on the size of the balance, but also takes into account more qualitative considerations as well.

Our audit report states whether or not the financial statements show a true and fair view of the company’s financial position. If so, the audit report will be unqualified. If we cannot conclude that the financial statements show a true and fair view, possibly because you are unable to provide us with the evidence we need to see, then the report may have to be qualified.

Yes this is true, unless the parent company is established in the UK and prepares consolidated accounts, it will require an audit.

Yes, we could undertake an assurance review instead. An assurance review doesn’t provide the same level of assurance as an audit, however it is still an independent examination and can provide added credibility to the company’s financial information.

An assurance review provides an additional level of confidence to the users of the financial statements. Following the review, a report can be appended to the financial statements to highlight that a review has been undertaken and that nothing has come to our attention to suggest that the financial statements do not show a true and fair view.

An assurance review is more flexible than an audit and the exact work which we undertake can be tailored to your requirements in order to provide assurance over particular areas of the financial statements.

At the start of our work, we would work with the directors to identify the areas which are most important or highest risk and our work would be directed towards these areas.

The work we undertake is not as comprehensive as for an audit, and as such it will not provide the same level of assurance, however it will provide users of the financial statements with a level of confidence that the key areas reviewed.

This is a difficult question to answer without more information about your company, as the amount of work involved will vary for every company.

Our typical fees to undertake an assurance exercise start from £3,000 and an audit start from £6,000 for a small audit exempt company (or subsidiary of an overseas parent) and from £12,000 for a statutory audit for a company who exceeds the audit thresholds, however, the exact price depends on the size of the company and the number and complexity of transactions within the company’s financial records.

In the UK, it is a statutory requirement for all companies to have an audit unless they are exempt. This means that the company does not exceed the audit thresholds or has a parental guarantee in place. The audit thresholds are exceeded if two or more of the following apply:

  • the company has an annual turnover of more than £10.2 million
  • the company has assets of more than £5.1 million
  • the company has more than 50 employees on average

If your company does not exceed the audit thresholds, an audit is not compulsory but you may still opt to have one.

As we complete our testing, we make a note whenever we cannot successfully complete our tests, or when we find any differences. It is normal to find differences, and in most cases these are small (trivial). Once we have completed all of our work, we will collate all of the differences and see if these are material in total. At the end of the audit, we will go through any issues with you, such as where we are unable to complete any of our tests or where the total of the differences is material, and discuss the options, which could include adjusting the financial statements or qualifying the audit report.

Our core sectors

Our expertise spans a wide range of industries, with 60% of our client base concentrated in the following core sectors:

Professional Services

Consultants, agencies, engineers, and other specialised firms providing expert professional services.

Technology & Innovation

SaaS companies, crypto businesses, software development firms, and tech start-ups.

Manufacturing & Logistics

Manufacturers, supply chain operators, warehousing businesses, and logistics providers.

While we specialise in these areas, our diverse client portfolio includes businesses across various industries, from retail to construction and manufacturing to hospitality.

No matter your sector, we’re equipped to support your growth and success.

Schedule a discovery call

Trusted by businesses like yours

"Caldwell Penn's transparency, professionalism, attention to detail, and friendliness distinguish them from all other firms we have previously engaged. They have exceeded our expectations by additionally offering R&D advice, which has significantly benefited our operations."
Allaero Limited
"While it’s hard to get excited about an audit, Caldwell Penn made the experience as seamless as possible. Communication was clear and effective, and the management letter provided valuable insights for our business. We highly recommend their services to any business in need of a thorough and efficient audit."
UK Lanyard Makers Ltd
"Caldwell Penn handle everything for us with a proactive, tailored approach. Their dedicated team understands our goals, ensuring we never miss tax-saving opportunities. They’re more than accountants, they’re partners in our growth."
Syon Creative Ltd

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