ROSEMARY, FEB 21
“I felt there was little preparation for the audit, which took place in September 2020, the first with CP, although this may partly have been due to the restrictions arising from COVID-19. The preparation of the accounts was also problematic; the first draft appeared only a day before the agenda papers were due to be sent out, and it was full of errors, both in terms of the figures and text. Clearly, no one had even glanced at them before they were sent to me. Then multiple drafts had to be produced after that as my amendments were missed. There was also some confusion after the final draft had been approved, as I expected to hear again from CP with instructions as to your procedure for signature, but I heard nothing. The whole experience was very far removed from the service we received from our previous auditor. I am hoping the next audit will proceed more smoothly, as our charity will be known to the audit team (assuming the members remain the same), and CP now has a reasonable draft of the TAR and financial statements on its system from which to work. Having said this, I found the team very pleasant and helpful, and I felt the difficulties arose mainly because they were clearly working under a lot of pressure and maybe in a different culture to the one I am used to working in.”