Looking for freelance accountant/auditor

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2017
    Posts
    1

    Looking for freelance accountant/auditor

    Hi,

    I see there have been many similar posts over the years, but here is another one anyway! We have had a HK limited company for several years. The last few years it has done no business whatsoever. During the few years it was active we had a handful of transactions per year. This year we have to submit audited books/statements for doing the profits tax return.

    I am looking for a, preferably, freelance accountant/auditor to take the job. It is very simple. No employees, no premises in HK. The business was basically a failure, so there was very little activity. I have had a couple of quotations for auditing all 8 years and it just seems a little over the top expensive for what the job actually is. Quotes have ranged from $7,000 to $10,000 HKD per year.

    Does anyone know of a freelancer/moonlighter that could maybe do this type of work for less?

    Thanks in advance,

    ecl


  2. #2

    Good morning, I do not quite understand the job you are requiring - are the accounts already prepared and you only need them to be audited or would the account need to be prepared as well? This would need to be done by another party, as the auditor will normally not prepare the accounts he/she is going to audit.
    Assuming that the accounts are already prepared and there is somebody that will liaise with the auditor for the audit work, the quotations mentioned by you seem to be fairly reasonable for a decent audit firm.
    Not sure if any significant savings could be achieved in this situation. Maybe you could try to limit the number of years to be audited by checking whether the IRD would accept formalized management accounts at least for the years where the company has not done any business - that might bring you more savings than pushing down the audit fees further.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Posts
    141

    7-10k is reasonable. If you find a part time accountant, they will have to outsource the "certifying the accounts" piece to an auditor (the wholesale street price for accountants is 3k). That accountant is going to charge you that plus his own service fee.

    If you are not planning to do any business any sooner, perhaps ask the firm to apply for the dormant status for company registry purpose.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Posts
    23

    That is a very reasonable price for 8 years of audit. I am interested in understanding how you have filed your companies returns all these years without submitting your audited accounts? Has your company secretary classified your company as dormant as you have done no business over a few years? A dormant company is exempt from having to prepare audited financial statements.


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Posts
    141

    In Hk, you don't need to file your audited acccoints to the Company Regisry. The OP may have done its company secretary filing but was exempt from filing of a return due to its loss position.

    To the OP:
    I think you can reduce the fee by telling the auditor which year the Company has transactions. For example if you only have transaction in the last year then propose an audit fee like in this order.

    Year 1: 3k
    Year 2: 3k
    Year 3: 3k
    Year 4: 3k
    Year 5: 3k
    Year 6: 3k
    Year 7: 3k
    Year 8: 10k

    As you can see, the auditor is not going to need a lot of time on auditing a Company with no trabscation.

    Etc