The fee variation covers central project work that firms carried out to support the backlog solution. This includes developing approaches to disclaimed opinions and build-back assurance, preparing guidance and documents, training audit teams, assessing portfolios, and managing added risks and resources. Firms cannot assign this work reliably to individual audits.
We will include the project cost fee variation in each body’s 2024/25 fee variation statement. If We have already issued the statement, we will issue a revised statement. Otherwise, it will include the charge in the original statement.
We reviewed the submissions and will determine the fee variation before firms invoice bodies. PSAA will continue to challenge any separate fee variation submitted for individual audit work.
The fee variation relates to audit firms’ project costs linked to the backlog solution. Bodies and auditors should apply the relevant accounting and reporting requirements. Our determination will distinguish the charge from body-specific audit work.
We reviewed the work claimed, the number of affected audits, the number of audit years outstanding, average costs per body, staff time and rates, and differences between firms. We challenged significant differences and included only costs linked to the backlog solution that we assessed as reasonable. We have published the total cost, the work covered, […]
We grouped the affected audits by the number of audit years subject to disclaimed opinions. A larger number of outstanding years generally requires more planning, coordination and preparation for build-back. PSAA compared each firm’s portfolio profile with its disclaimer and build-back costs and average cost per affected body. It also reviewed the number of affected […]
Our standard project cost template included the published 2024/25 fee variation rates chargeable to bodies. Firms completed the template using those rates. We then reviewed the staff time, grades and costs submitted and compared the results across firms to assess whether they were reasonable and consistent.
Each firm submitted a project cost return using a common template. We reviewed the work, time and rates claimed. We challenged firms where we needed more evidence and included only costs that it assessed as reasonable and linked to the backlog solution.
No. The charge is a one-off standardised fee variation. It does not amend the scale fee or create a recurring uplift.
No. The fee pays for central project work that enabled firms to respond to the backlog and prepare for build-back. Timing depends on the work required at each body, the quality and availability of evidence, and body and auditor capacity.