Champion records audit market share boost
Champion Accountants, the expert accountancy and advisory group, recorded double-digit growth in 2023, with its audit arm bolstering revenues by 31 per cent compared to the same period in 2022.
With practices in Manchester, Chester, Preston and Blackpool, Champion Accountants has welcomed a raft of new audit clients as businesses and charities across the UK continue to seek out expert challenger firms to manage their annual audits and deliver increased value.
As specialist auditors, with many of the Champion team having trained at Big Four firms, Champion Accountants act for numerous stand-alone companies and groups, many with overseas subsidiaries or parent companies. Its audit clients range in annual turnover from £250,000 to £70million+ and include a number of smaller businesses which are exempt but opt to be audited for additional reassurance and peace of mind.
Mark Turner, audit partner at Champion Accountants, said: “This is a real, pressing issue for countless businesses nationwide. Some have told us they have been quoted a price hike of more than 50 per cent for this year’s audit – that’s a lot for any business to absorb, especially on a project that they are legally obligated to carry out.
“The big audit firms are also being hit hard by skills gaps – there simply aren’t enough qualified auditors to complete the jobs on their books, and so priority is given to the highest fee payers. Some businesses will pay, under the false impression that changing audit partners will be an upheaval. At Champion, we draw from a wide pool of talent across our office network, to ensure our audits are managed professionally, painlessly, to deadline, and on budget.”
Jim Walker, group financial director at Cerberus Group and a Champion Accountants audit client, said: “We had an incumbent auditor at the time, but after calling on Champion to deliver a piece of specialist tax work, it made good business sense to leverage their audit service. Since then, our audits have been seamless. Their audit advisors are proactive and don’t need us to hold their hand, whilst possessing the necessary – and wider skillset – in-house to deliver on our evolving business needs.
“Due to the nature of the sectors in which we operate, particularly the Insolvency and High Court Enforcement fields, our Group finances and business models are relatively complex. The team quickly grasped how we operate and the nuances of the Group, and we couldn’t be happier.”
;
