Projection of accounts certified by accountant

rose7_2

Hi,

DH and I run our own business and we are in the process of applying for a (residential) mortgage. As well as requiring an SA302 for the past two years to prove our income the mortgage lender also needs a projection for the current year audited/certified by a chartered or certified qualified accountant.

Our book keeping is done by my dad (retired HMRC but not a qualified accountant). Some guidance on the following would be much appreciated as I have zero experience of accountants.

1. Will an accountant be happy to provide a one off service like this when we are not already a client?

2. What information would they need from us in order to prepare a projection (presumably this is affected by the fact that most of the projection won't be a projection as we are already 3/4 through the tax year)?

3. Is preparing a projection a big job? Speed is of the essence as we are in danger of losing out on the house if we don't get a mortgage sorted asap.

Any thoughts advice welcome; I'm planning on phoning some local firms tomorrow but wanted to try and get a better understanding of what's involved before then.

Thanks

Pennywise

As a practising certified accountant, my comments are as follows.

rose7 wrote: »

Hi,

DH and I run our own business and we are in the process of applying for a (residential) mortgage. As well as requiring an SA302 for the past two years to prove our income the mortgage lender also needs a projection for the current year audited/certified by a chartered or certified qualified accountant.

Our book keeping is done by my dad (retired HMRC but not a qualified accountant). Some guidance on the following would be much appreciated as I have zero experience of accountants.

1. Will an accountant be happy to provide a one off service like this when we are not already a client? Some will, some won't but it's the busy time of year, just ahead of the SA tax deadline, so most firms will already be busy and won't be keen on a one off - may charge premium rates to take it on

2. What information would they need from us in order to prepare a projection (presumably this is affected by the fact that most of the projection won't be a projection as we are already 3/4 through the tax year)? Accounts for prior years (as many as possible) and sight of current year's book-keeping as a minimum, then depending on what you want the forecasts to show, they may want sight of current orders in progress etc. If you're wanting to show a similar level of turnover/profit, and it's a steady business over the past few years, then they'll be happier but if you want to show big increases, then you'll need to come up with proof as to why.

3. Is preparing a projection a big job? Speed is of the essence as we are in danger of losing out on the house if we don't get a mortgage sorted asap. Yes, if you want it done properly, i.e. both profit & loss account and cash flow forecast - quite time consuming to look at historical figures and current year to date as a basis for extrapolating the remaining future period - could easily be several hours

Any thoughts advice welcome; I'm planning on phoning some local firms tomorrow but wanted to try and get a better understanding of what's involved before then.

Thanks

Overall, as a one off, it's not a particularly attractive job, especially at the busiest time of year, so expect to be knocked back by some firms, and don't expect any cheap deals. I know it doesn't help now, but had you used an accountant over the past few years, this type of job would have been relatively quick and cheap to do as they'd already have a good working knowledge of you, your business and your numbers.

rose7_2

Thanks for your reply. Yes I had thought that this it about the worst possible time of year for trying to find an accountant! Hopefully I'll be able to find someone who can squeeze us in!