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What audit-ready means.
We run the whole audit: preparation, fieldwork and a signed opinion from our associate audit partners, at a fee agreed before we start.
Reconciliations, complete
Bank, debtors, creditors, intercompany, payroll and VAT control accounts, agreed and documented.
Schedules auditors ask for
Fixed assets, prepayments, accruals, loans and lease schedules, in the format your auditor's PBC list expects.
Queries answered fast
We sit between you and the audit team during fieldwork, so their questions don't eat your management's week.
Indian parent companies
UK subsidiary accounts, APR filings and group reporting packs that reconcile to the Indian consolidation.
Crossing the threshold
Growing past the UK audit exemption limits? We get your records audit-grade before your first one, not during it.
Groups and subsidiaries
Intercompany balances agreed across entities before the auditors find the mismatch for you.
Thresholds, PBC lists and cross-border filings
Do you even need an audit? Here is the line.
A UK company generally needs a statutory audit when it exceeds two of three limits for two consecutive years: £15 million turnover, £7.5 million balance-sheet total, or 50 employees (thresholds applying to periods beginning on or after April 2025). Subsidiaries of larger groups, and companies whose shareholders demand one, can need an audit regardless of size. UK subsidiaries of Indian parents frequently need audited numbers for the Indian group consolidation even when the UK entity alone is exempt.
The audit itself is done by an independent firm; the expensive part is usually you. Every unreconciled balance and missing schedule becomes auditor hours billed to you and questions landing on your management. Our job is a complete PBC (Prepared By Client) file before fieldwork starts, so the audit runs on schedule and the fee stays where it was quoted.
The PBC file, complete
Trial balance, every reconciliation, fixed asset register, debtor and creditor listings, accruals and prepayments schedules, loan statements and board minutes, indexed the way audit teams ask.
Intercompany, agreed
Balances confirmed and reconciled across group entities before the auditors sample them, the single most common cause of audit overruns.
India APR and group packs
Annual Performance Reports for Indian ODI compliance, and reporting packs that reconcile the UK numbers to the Indian consolidation under the parent\u2019s GAAP.
First-audit readiness
Crossing the thresholds soon? We bring your records to audit grade the year before, so your first audit is boring, which is the goal.
During fieldwork
We answer the audit team\u2019s queries directly, samples, walkthroughs, follow-up requests, so your managers keep their week.
After the audit
Adjustments booked, recommendations implemented, and the file template kept live so next year starts 90% done.
Statutory audit in the UK, explained
What a UK audit is, and who actually needs one.
A statutory audit is an independent examination of a company's annual accounts, ending in a signed opinion on whether they give a true and fair view. It is not a tax check and not an HMRC investigation: it exists to give shareholders, lenders, parent companies and regulators numbers they can rely on. The auditor tests your balances and evidence, invoices, bank confirmations, stock counts, contracts, and the opinion is signed by a registered auditor.
With Punchhole the whole engagement runs as one job: we keep or rebuild the underlying records, prepare the accounts and the audit file, run the fieldwork with you, and our associate audit partners, UK-registered auditors, review the work and sign the opinion. You get one team and one timeline instead of a prep firm and an audit firm passing you between them.
The size test
An audit is required when a company exceeds two of three limits for two consecutive years: £15m turnover, £7.5m balance-sheet total, or 50 employees (periods beginning on or after 6 April 2025).
Audits regardless of size
Members of larger groups, some regulated businesses, and any company where shareholders holding 10%+ demand one. Many UK subsidiaries of overseas parents fall here.
Common exemptions
Small standalone companies and dormant companies are usually exempt, and some subsidiaries can use a parent-guarantee exemption. We check the position before anyone pays for an audit they don't need.
Who signs
Only a registered auditor can sign a UK audit opinion. Our associate audit partners sign every Punchhole engagement, keeping the legal independence intact while you deal with one team.
APR, explained for Indian parents
Own a UK company from India? The APR is your annual homework.
The Annual Performance Report (APR) is a filing every Indian company or resident with an Overseas Direct Investment, including shares in a UK company, must make each year under FEMA through their authorised dealer bank. It reports the UK entity's capital structure, repatriations and financial performance for the year ended 31 March, and it is due by 31 December.
The catch: the APR must be based on audited accounts of the overseas entity, which is why many UK subsidiaries that are audit-exempt under UK law still need an audit, the Indian side demands it. Miss or botch the filing and the parent faces FEMA compliance consequences, blocked further remittances and late submission fees.
How we run an APR engagement
UK accounts prepared to the 31 March year-end the Indian side needs, or reconciled from your UK year-end.
Audit completed and the opinion signed by our associate audit partners.
APR figures drawn from the audited numbers, reconciled to the Indian consolidation, and the pack handed to your CA and AD bank well before 31 December.
Ezest Limited and Premier Paving & Tiles both run their APR audits this way, on schedule, every year.
Questions, answered
Everything people ask before they call.
Who signs the audit opinion?
Our associate audit partners, UK-registered auditors who work with us on every engagement, review the file and sign the opinion, preserving the independence the law requires. You deal with one Punchhole team throughout; we bring the signing auditor to you.
Our Indian parent needs our UK numbers. Is that an audit?
Usually it is a group reporting pack plus, for Indian ODI rules, an Annual Performance Report (APR). We prepare both, reconciled to your UK statutory accounts, on the parent\u2019s timetable.
How early should we start?
Ideally the quarter before year-end. A clean close at year-end beats three months of archaeology afterwards, and it is the difference between a two-week audit and a two-month one.
Our last audit dragged for months. Why?
Almost always: an incomplete PBC list, unreconciled intercompany balances and slow query responses. All three are precisely what this service removes.
Can you fix the books first?
Yes. Catch-up bookkeeping and balance-sheet clean-up are usually phase one for first-time audit clients, quoted as part of the same fixed fee.
What does audit support cost?
A fixed fee based on entity count, transaction volume and the state of the records, quoted after a 30-minute scoping call and agreed before we start.
UK registered, UK accountable
Your contract is with Punchhole Solutions Limited, a UK company (no. 14414905), with senior review before every filing.
India-powered pricing
Our India back office does the daily work, the same model the Big Four use, so weekly bookkeeping costs what quarterly used to.
Reliability you can check
Filings months early, deadline calendars a quarter ahead, 2,000+ returns filed. One named person who answers the same day.
Audit season without the season.
Tell us your year-end and group structure. We'll scope the auditaration into a fixed fee and a timeline that ends before fieldwork begins.