Residents Association - Auditor Fees?

justagirl

Our residents association pays a fee to the auditor to audit the accounts each year and the charge is just under €500... There is 72 houses in our estate ...we have one supplier that cuts our grass (four bills a year), we pay public liability insurance (pay that once a year)... its all very organised and straight forward....

Does this sound about right ?? ... I myself thought it was high ... so am just trying to get a feel for what people pay yearly... What do other Residents Associations pay for their auditor? Thanks...

The_Conductor

EUR500 is pretty good going for auditing a reasonably straight forward set of accounts. We paid 650 last year for a development of 23 units.

justagirl

Thanks smccarrick - appreciate the feedback..... would your auditor have to deal with management company payments as well?...

The_Conductor

justagirl wrote: »

Thanks smccarrick - appreciate the feedback..... would your auditor have to deal with management company payments as well?...

It depends on the legal status of the residents association and/or Management Company. Any legally constituted company is obliged to lodge an officially audited set of accounts annually with the CRO. If the Residents Association were associated with the Management Company- it could be that both might be done together. Normally they would be two seperate entities, and require seperate accounts etc. In a lot of cases a residents association is simply an ad-hoc group of residents who liaise with the Management Company- there may very well be no financial transactions whatsoever to audit.

It depends.....

justagirl

smccarrick wrote: »

It depends on the legal status of the residents association and/or Management Company. Any legally constituted company is obliged to lodge an officially audited set of accounts annually with the CRO. If the Residents Association were associated with the Management Company- it could be that both might be done together. Normally they would be two seperate entities, and require seperate accounts etc. In a lot of cases a residents association is simply an ad-hoc group of residents who liaise with the Management Company- there may very well be no financial transactions whatsoever to audit.

It depends.....

We do not have a Management Company so its just the residents association accounts that are being audited... I just wanted to see if your auditor had to incorporate a Management Companies accounts also....

As an aside... I don't think our Residents Association is legally constituted... will have to check..... so if it wasn't..... we would not have to have the accounts audited ?.... personally, I'd want them audited anyway to cover everyone on the committee and to make sure all in order...

antoinolachtnai

you could be an 'unincorporated association'. If you are, it probably depends what's in the written constitution. It's unlikely that you really need audited accounts, though it's possible.

However, if you have the arrangement in place, and everybody is happy with it, I would leave it that way. A bit of financial discipline will save a lot of money and arguments over the longer term.

justagirl

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

you could be an 'unincorporated association'. If you are, it probably depends what's in the written constitution. It's unlikely that you really need audited accounts, though it's possible.

However, if you have the arrangement in place, and everybody is happy with it, I would leave it that way. A bit of financial discipline will save a lot of money and arguments over the longer term.

Thanks antoinolachtnai, i've checked and we are an unincorporated association and we don't need to get the accounts audited but we are all much happier with them being audited...even though they are so simple/organised - its a good arrangement. I am really just trying to get a feel for how much others pay and to make sure its around the norm....

swiggy

I am currently looking to change auditors to audit the accounts of the mgmt co which the residents now control. We are a small development with 28 houses based in Dublin. However the cheapest quote I am getting is €1,000 plus VAT. Are the auditors you use based in Dublin? €500/€650 is alot cheaper then the quotes I was getting!

justagirl

swiggy wrote: »

I am currently looking to change auditors to audit the accounts of the mgmt co which the residents now control. We are a small development with 28 houses based in Dublin. However the cheapest quote I am getting is €1,000 plus VAT. Are the auditors you use based in Dublin? €500/€650 is alot cheaper then the quotes I was getting!

The auditor is based in Meath... our accounts are very straightforward though - no management company involved.

Thoie

justagirl wrote: »

Thanks antoinolachtnai, i've checked and we are an unincorporated association and we don't need to get the accounts audited but we are all much happier with them being audited...even though they are so simple/organised - its a good arrangement. I am really just trying to get a feel for how much others pay and to make sure its around the norm....

To be honest, if they're as simple as you say, I wouldn't bother. Instead I'd just stick a copy of all the bills and monies received in each letter box once a year. Hold a meeting a week or so later where anyone can question a charge if they want. On the other hand it's, what, less than €7 a year per house?