What is audit and assurance support?
Audit support is the preparation and documentation of the evidence an auditor relies on to form an opinion on financial statements. Assurance is the broader family of engagements, including limited assurance, agreed-upon procedures and compliance reviews, where a practitioner gives confidence over information without necessarily issuing a full statutory audit opinion.
UK audit firms are under growing pressure. The FRC continues to raise the bar on audit quality, ISA (UK) demands more granular risk assessment and documentation, and qualified auditors are harder and more expensive to recruit. Our qualified audit professionals work as an extension of your engagement team, following your methodology, templates and quality standards, under UK partner and manager review. Professional judgement always stays with your UK-registered auditor.
Our audit and assurance support services
Audit planning
Engagement planning memo and terms, risk assessment at entity and assertion level, materiality and performance materiality, and audit strategy support.
Audit fieldwork support
Lead schedules and trial balance analysis, internal control testing and walkthroughs, substantive testing, sampling and analytical review, and evidence compilation.
Audit execution
Financial statement cross-checking, disclosure checklists, adjustment schedules, completion files, partner review packs, and file finalisation and archiving.
Assurance services support
Agreed-upon procedures, limited assurance and review engagements, compliance reviews, internal control documentation and working paper preparation.
Compliance and professional standards
- ISA (UK) 200–700 series audit standards
- UK GAAP and FRS 102 disclosure requirements
- IFRS for group and listed-entity engagements
- Companies Act 2006 statutory reporting requirements
- FRC Ethical Standard on independence
- Strict confidentiality agreements with every team member
- Access-controlled cloud collaboration environments
- GDPR-aware data handling and encrypted transfer
How we manage your audit outsourcing
Requirement discussion
We agree the engagement scope, client sector, methodology, software and timelines with your team.
Secure file transfer
Records and prior-year files are shared via access-controlled channels such as SharePoint or OneDrive.
Dedicated team allocation
A ring-fenced team of qualified and part-qualified audit professionals is allocated to your firm.
Planning and working papers
We prepare risk assessments, lead schedules and fieldwork documentation in line with your methodology.
Quality review and technical checks
Every file passes an internal quality review against ISA (UK) before it reaches your team.
Delivery and ongoing support
Files are delivered to agreed turnaround times, with direct communication via Teams, email or scheduled calls.
Common challenges we solve
| Challenge | Business impact | Our solution |
|---|---|---|
| Staff shortages during audit season | Missed deadlines and staff burnout | A scalable audit team that flexes with peak volume |
| Tight reporting deadlines | Rushed reviews and higher audit risk | Structured turnaround commitments and parallel working |
| Recruitment costs | High cost per hire and long onboarding | Qualified audit capacity without recruitment overhead |
| Increasing regulation | Rising compliance burden | Documentation built to ISA (UK) and FRC expectations |
| Documentation inconsistencies | Review delays and inspection findings | Standardised templates, indexing and internal review |
| Complex client structures | Group audits take longer | Teams experienced in group and multi-entity audits |
| Data security concerns | GDPR and confidentiality exposure | Encrypted transfer, access controls and signed NDAs |
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
What is audit outsourcing?
Engaging an external, dedicated team to prepare audit working papers, fieldwork documentation and completion files for a UK audit firm, under that firm’s supervision and review.
Can you prepare audit working papers?
Yes. We prepare lead schedules, testing schedules, analytical review documentation and full working paper files to your templates and methodology.
Do you support ISA (UK) audits?
Yes. We prepare working papers, lead schedules and reconciliations from the PBC list through to review. Audit opinions remain issued by your firm’s Registered Auditor.
Can you assist with FRS 102 and IFRS engagements?
Yes. Our teams are familiar with UK GAAP, FRS 102 and IFRS requirements across a range of entity types.
Which software do you use?
We work within your environment, including Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, Excel, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and OneDrive.
Can you work as an extension of our audit team?
Yes. This is our core model: a dedicated, ring-fenced team that learns your methodology and works under your review.
Do you provide support during busy season?
Yes. Our teams scale up during peak audit periods and scale down when demand reduces.