Travel accountancy firm fined over unqualified audits
Monday, 14 Dec, 2010
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A travel accountancy firm whose client list reads like a who’s who in the industry has been fined for issuing unqualified audit reports regarding the financial statements of two travel companies.
London-based Ellman Wall was fined £2000 and ordered to pay £4184 in costs by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales’ (ICAEW) Investigation Committee in October.
The ICAEW found that the accountancy firm, whose website has glowing testimonials from the likes of Trailfinders, ABTOF, IATA, Sunvil Holidays, Andante Travels, Goldcrest Holidays and Gill’s Cruise Centre, issued unqualified audit reports in 2006 and again in 2008.
It said the company did not “obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence” on which to base its audit opinion.
Ellman managing director Jonatham Wall said in a statement: “Elman Wall are very proud of the high quality work we undertake for our many and varied clients.
“Since our beginnings in 1995 we have had no adverse issues with our regulating Institute and in 2009 successfully went through a full quality assurance visit carried out by inspectors from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
“We also voluntarily have a number of our audit files reviewed annually by expert external technical reviewers to ensure that our audits are carried out to the highest standard.
“In 2008,a complaint was made to our Institute by a third party regarding the amount of audit evidence we had collected in order to give an unqualified audit opinion on the accounts of one client in the year ended 30 September 2005,and on the accounts of its sister company for the year ended 30 September 2007.
“These were of a highly technical nature and in August 2010 the Institute’s Investigation Committee upheld the complaint.
“The company’s concerned remain clients to this day, and there was no loss to any party whatsoever as a result of our giving unqualified audit opinions on those particular accounts. All the Investigation found was that on two specific points there was not enough evidence on our files to support the unqualified opinions that we gave.”
by Dinah Hatch
Dinah
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