Auditors

A client assets audit is required for firms who:
 hold client money in a non-statutory trust; or
 have held more than £30,000 in a statutory trust at any time, even if only
for one day, in the reporting period.
The auditor does not need to send the report to the FCA, but the FCA may
request to see it. The report needs to be completed within 53 weeks of the last
report, or date authorised if this is the first report. The auditor needs to send the
report to the firm within four months of the end of the relevant reporting period.
What must be covered in a client money audit report?
The client money audit report covers the systems and controls a firm operates
to handle client money. It is not an audit of the actual client accounts.
The auditor’s report should cover whether in the auditor’s opinion:
 the firm has maintained systems adequate to enable it to comply with
the client money rules throughout the period; and
 the firm was in compliance with the rules at the date as at which the
report was made
.
If the report states that one or more of the applicable requirements has not been
met, the auditor must specify in the report each of those requirements and the
respects in which they have not been met.
Whether or not an auditor concludes that one or more of the requirements has
been met, the auditor must ensure that report identifies each individual rule in
respect of which a breach has been identified.
If an auditor does not identify a breach of any individual rule, it must include a
statement to that effect in the client assets report.
The auditor must ensure that the information prescribed is completed using,
respectively, Part 1 (Auditor’s Opinion) and Part 2 (Breaches Schedule) of SUP
3 Annex 1 R.