Bank wants letter from accountant

martino7221

Hi guys,

I have applied for a mortgage and the lender has requested a letter from my accountant.

I have never had any problem with the accountant so never bothered to ask about their qualifications or anything.

I have found out my accountant is a member of AAT only and there is nobody in the office that is chartered or member of any other bodies (they never claimed to be chartered accountants).

Does anybody know if MAAT qualification is acceptable for mortgage lenders? and does the letter need to include the accountants membership number?

I believe in UK you do not need to be registered with a professional body to trade as an accountant just with hmrc for money laundering. is this assumption correct?

[Deleted User]

Which lender? They generally publish lists of acceptable qualifications

martino7221

Deleted_User wrote: »

Which lender? They generally publish lists of acceptable qualifications

Hi the lender in question is Barclays. I cannot find any details about who they accept beside this pdf from AAT.

If you search Banks, building societies and finance companies AAT on google, there is a pdf document from AAT saying barclays will accept them but it dates back to 2013

[Deleted User]

Financial accounts must be produced and signed by a qualified accountant who is an Associate or Fellow of one of the following professional bodies:

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators
The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants
The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
The Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy
The Chartered Institute of Taxation
The Association of Accounting Technicians
The Association of Authorised Public Accountants
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
The Association of Independent Accountants
The Association of Taxation Technicians
The Association of International Accountants

martino7221

Thank you JMA.

I see you are a mortgage broker.

Did you copy paste that from barclays document that you have access to?

Do you know if MAAT is same as associate member?

Also,

What If you did the accounts yourself without using any accountants how does one produce a letter in that case?!?!

[Deleted User]

martino7221 wrote: »

Thank you JMA.

I see you are a mortgage broker.

Did you copy paste that from barclays document that you have access to?

Do you know if MAAT is same as associate member?

Also,

What If you did the accounts yourself without using any accountants how does one produce a letter in that case?!?!

Its from Barclays broker site and copy/pasted across.

MAAT is just a fully paid up member of AAT so it would fall under that category and would be acceptable for Barclays.

If you are a sole trader then you might not have an accountant and the lender will usually come to you for answers and maybe request paperwork to back anything up. If you say you have an accountant though they will always try that first.

Did they tell you why they wanted a letter?

martino7221

Deleted_User wrote: »

Its from Barclays broker site and copy/pasted across.

MAAT is just a fully paid up member of AAT so it would fall under that category and would be acceptable for Barclays.

If you are a sole trader then you might not have an accountant and the lender will usually come to you for answers and maybe request paperwork to back anything up. If you say you have an accountant though they will always try that first.

Did they tell you why they wanted a letter?

Thanks again JMA.

Yes, because we submitted the company accounts with the application.

In the company accounts - unaudited financial statement page 3 the accountants only included their company name and date and said it was produced on our behalf.

Because it did not include the name,signature and qualification of the accountant they have asked for a letter.

martino7221

Also, JMA is it possible for you to link me to the Barclays broker site document where it lists the above list as I cannot find link or is it from members only area?

[Deleted User]

martino7221 wrote: »

Also, JMA is it possible for you to link me to the Barclays broker site document where it lists the above list as I cannot find link or is it from members only area?

https://intermediaries.uk.barclays/home/lending-criteria/residential/r-z/

Look under 'Self Employed'

Thrugelmir

An audit report can only be signed off by a registered auditor.

Barney_Rubble_0403

The answer is yes......

An AAT full member can sign off the accounts for companies that do not require an audit. Companies may be audit exempt where at least two of the following conditions apply:

their annual turnover is no more than £10.2 million
their assets are worth no more than £5.1 million
they have 50 or fewer employees on average.
The majority of businesses within the UK do not meet this threshold so currently over half a million businesses trust AAT full members to service their accounting requirements.

Professional status
An AAT Accountant is a qualified accountant and AAT full member, who has demonstrated their skills through work experience and can now use the designatory letters MAAT after their name.