Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is a public body funded by grant aid from the UK government. It helps businesses develop their ideas by issuing grants to support the added cost of realising their potential. Further information about Innovate UK can be found here.
An important part of obtaining any grant is a requirement for the business to engage an independent accountant to perform a reasonableness check on the expenses spent by the business in line with the terms of the grant and to report their findings to Innovate UK.
Innovate UK requires that the independent accountant must be a registered auditor, as listed at the audit register and Innovate UK reserves the right to approve the selection of the independent accountant, as necessary.
It is important to note that the business is responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which comply with the terms and conditions of Innovate UK’s grant offer and is also responsible for providing this information to Innovate UK as per the terms of the grant.
The independent accountant will review the accounting records and correspondence and obtain any information or explanations considered necessary to be able to perform the work to the required standards expected by Innovate UK and the auditing profession. The business must accept that they have a responsibility to provide the independent accountant with full access to its financial records and ensure that all explanations are supplied in a truthful and timely manner.
The independent accountant must ensure that they undertake the work required of them with the reasonable care and skill that would be expected of a registered auditor. Innovate UK also requires the independent accountant to carry out specific procedures which include the following:
- Testing overheads included in the grant claim
- Confirming that no other public funding has been received in respect of the expenditure funded by Innovate UK
- Checking that amounts claimed exclude VAT
- Confirming that the amounts claimed do not include interest arising from hire purchase, contract hire or credit arrangements
- Ensuring that amounts claimed do not include any addition for profit by the business
Plus Accounting have extensive experience of providing Independent Accountants’ Reports to Innovate UK to support grants from many different businesses. Please contact Chris Morey at Plus Accounting if you would like to discuss this further and to request a quote for providing this service.
Author: Chris Morey, Director, Plus Accounting
Email: chrism@plusaccounting.co.uk
Any views or opinions represented in this blog are personal, belong solely to the blog owner and do not represent those of Plus Accounting. All content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site.
Date published: 20 August 2021