Duties of a Yacht Club Auditor

[Poignard]

Can anyone tell me where I can find information detailing what are the legal duties of auditors of small clubs, eg a yacht club with less than 100 members, where the auditing is done by volunteer members and not professional accountants.

 

[westernsailor]

Professional accountants and auditors have a letter of engagement with the enity being audited. This sets out the terms of reference of work to be carried out and also the duties and responsibilities of both parties.

Your posting leads me to believe that what is really being done here is the properation of an Income and Expenditure account together with a balance sheet for the club is question. This should be fairly easy and not very onerous.

One word of caution, I would be confident that the accounts being produced are materially correct, however there could be an issue if third parties rely on them and an issue arises in the future.

 

[ParaHandy]

a club would only be required to produce audited accounts if it has a statutory obligation to do so? or the rules of the club require it to do so ..

nothing agin the bean counters but ....

 

[Sui Generis]

As ParaHandy says, if the club rules dictate then do it.

I would say that most treasurers of small clubs like to get someone to check their books a) to check that there are no mistakes, and b) to show that they are not defrauding the club in any way.

It's up to the members to decide. It's their money!

 

[Boathook]

Our club, a ltd company uses the following. If you aren't ltd it may to legal for you. Have you looked on the RYA web site ?
Independent Examiners Report to the Members
We report on the accounts of the Club for the year ended 4 July 2006, which are set out on the pages attached.

Basis of independent examiners report

An examination was carried out to include a review of the accounting records kept by the club and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records.

It also included consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and for seeking explanations concerning such matters.

The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently we do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent Examiners Statement

In connection with our examination, no matter has come to our attention which:

a) gives us reasonable cause to believe that any material respect, the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 221 of the 1985 Act, and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of section 226 of the 1985 Act, have not been met, or
b) to which, in our opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.


Examiner
Examiner

Date

 

[Birdseye]

[ QUOTE ]
Can anyone tell me where I can find information detailing what are the legal duties of auditors of small clubs, eg a yacht club with less than 100 members, where the auditing is done by volunteer members and not professional accountants.

[/ QUOTE ]

This covers the Treasurers duties and I would expect an auditor to check that the treasurer was doing them properly. http://www.rya.org.uk/WorkingWithUs/clubs/finances/treasurer.htm

Having said which, every auditor I have dealt with tries very hard to deny responsibility for anything. Particularly post Anderson.

 

[steviewhitts]

I'm the Hon. Treasurer of a Civil Service Sailing Club and have to have my books audited by a couple of Club Members who act as Honorary auditors. As stated above they basically check that income vs expenditure vs bank balance tally. They provide an assurance for me and the other members that I am handling the Clubs money correctly and not defrauding anyone. A signed and audited set of accounts goes to CSSA every year. Our Constitution (which mirrors CSSA) requires an audit of accounts annually. Contrary to whats said above my auditors are painstaking, reliable and very willing to sign-off the accounts each year. Current membership is c. 135

 

[GeorgeP]

Is your club:

- a limited company
- a charity
- a partnership
- an unincorporated club
- something else?

The first two are covered by legislation (Companies' Act 1985/Charities Act 1993) and possibly also the M&A or consitution. For the third or fourth one, check the partnership agreement or written constitution