Independent Accountants Report (IAR)

An Independent Accountants Report (IAR) is an exercise carried out, usually for a third party such as a grant or funding provider, trade body or regulator, to confirm that the conditions of the funding are met or report on other findings.

The report normally involves an assurance exercise being undertaken, but occasionally can review information and report findings without providing an opinion.

The end result is the issuing of an Independent Accountants Report, in a format prescribed in the funding agreement, third party or regulatory body.

In the case of a grant (often referred to as a Grant Audit) the report is provided to certify that the expenditure incurred under the project meets the conditions associated with the grant award or provide factual information and report on findings, which must be completed by a Registered Auditor. The report is submitted to the grant provider/awarding body on completion of the project and at other specified time intervals.

An Independent Accountants Report is required for most grant funding providers (also known as a Grant Audit) as well as other regulatory bodies, such as Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), or reporting to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on ATOL regulations.

The conditions of funding will usually require an Independent Accountants Report to be completed at specified intervals during a project. These can range from quarterly to just a single report at the end of the project. The specific requirements and reporting timeframes will be specified in the funding agreement.

For other regulatory bodies or third parties, the timing and frequency of the Independent Accountants Report, as well as requirements around who can sign the report, will be set out.

The first step if you would like us to assist you with completing your Independent Accountants Report is to contact us.

We will be able to take the details relating to the requirement for the Independent Accountants Report, including the grant offer letter and funding agreement or Regulations which apply and provide you with a Fee Proposal.

Once we are formally appointed, the steps involved in the process are as follows:

• You send us copies of documentation and information relating to the period under review. For a grant claim this will be details of the claim made and your workings supporting the claims for us to review. For other types of work this will depend on the scope of the review.
• We will review information provided and select our sample to test. The size of the claim and number of transactions will dictate whether all costs are looked at, or just a sample
• You will then provide the supporting evidence for us to review (this could be copies of invoices, bank statements, payroll workings, expense claims, payslips and contracts of employment)
• Our testing will involve examining invoices and evidence of payment and checking payroll records, time sheets and employment contracts to make sure they all agree.
• Once our tests are complete, we review the evidence, write up our tests and follow up with any queries
• Once queries are resolved we issue our report

Typically it takes us 2-3 weeks from receiving the information to issuing our report. However, it could take longer if you take time to respond to our queries or if the project if particularly large.

Our turnaround time can be quicker than this, especially if we have the work booked in advance – some of our clients will contact us as soon as they are awarded a grant, even if the Independent Accountants Report is not needed until the last quarter. This also means we can agree fees in advance too at our current rates, saving you money!

Our fees for a Grant Audit start from £800, and increase depending on the size of the grant awarded, the volume of transactions included and the complexity of the work required. Some funding providers will specify a threshold for audit testing which requires a minimum amount of coverage to be obtained, where others will allow the level of testing to be at the judgement of the Auditor completing the work, so this will have an impact on the fees we charge.

For other types of Independent Accountants Report, our prices vary depending upon the work involved. Contact us to discuss.

Sometimes the terms of the agreement will allow for the fees to be included as part of the eligible expenditure under the grant but it will depend on the grant conditions. It is worth reviewing the grant funding agreement and any other issued guidance carefully to ensure that all eligible costs are included and the claim is maximised.

If, whilst completing our work, we find any errors (such as expenditure which does not meet the conditions of the grant, or errors in your calculations), we will raise these with you to allow you to correct the error and amend the grant claim. We will then be able to issue a report stating that the claim has been made in accordance with the grant funding conditions. However, if you do not agree to correct the errors, then these will be highlighted in the conclusion of the report.