Professional Assurance London
Statutory Audit Referral &
Risk-Based Assurance Support
Comprehensive audit support, risk assurance, and compliance navigation for high-growth enterprises
and established corporations in the UK market.
Assurance That Looks Beyond the Numbers
An audit opinion tells you whether the numbers are right. It doesn’t always tell you whether the business behind those numbers is exposed to risks that haven’t shown up in the accounts yet — a control gap, an over-reliance on a single supplier or customer, a process that works today but won’t scale, or an operational weakness specific to your industry that a generic audit checklist was never designed to catch.
Silver Stone Partners is regulated by the ACCA for accountancy, tax, and business advisory work. We do not currently hold a licence to conduct statutory audits ourselves. Where a client needs a statutory audit, we manage the process on your behalf and refer the engagement to Audit Firm, an independent firm appropriately registered to carry out statutory audit work in the UK. You keep one point of contact throughout — we coordinate the relationship, and we build a genuine assessment of the operational and industry-specific risks behind your financial statements into how the engagement is run, alongside the formal opinion issued by our audit partner firm.
The UK Audit Landscape in 2026 — What’s Changed, and Why It Matters
The rules on who needs a statutory audit changed significantly for financial years starting on or after 6 April 2025 — the first change to UK audit thresholds since 2016. A company now qualifies as small, and can potentially claim audit exemption, if it meets at least two of the following for two consecutive years:
- Annual turnover of £15 million or less
- Balance sheet total of £7.5 million or less
- Average of 50 or fewer employees
This is a meaningful increase from the previous limits, and it means a real number of UK companies — many with December or March year-ends — are moving out of mandatory audit scope for the first time in 2026.
This is where the real decision starts, not ends
Falling below the threshold removes the legal requirement, but it doesn’t remove the underlying reasons an audit was valuable in the first place:
- Banks and lenders often still require audited accounts as a condition of financing
- Investors and potential buyers generally expect audited financials during due diligence
- Multiple shareholders frequently want independent assurance over the numbers, regardless of legal requirement
- Removing audit oversight means your internal controls need to be genuinely reliable on their own — and many businesses haven’t tested whether they actually are
We help clients make this decision properly — not simply “do we still need one,” but “what do we actually lose if we stop.”
Statutory Audit — Coordinated Through Our Referral Partner
For companies that remain within mandatory audit scope — including subsidiaries of larger groups, public interest entities, and companies that exceed the small company thresholds — we arrange full statutory audit services, delivered by [Audit Firm Name] in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK).
What the engagement includes:
- Risk-based planning that starts with understanding your business and sector, not a generic audit template
- Testing of financial statement balances, transactions, and disclosures, carried out by the registered audit firm
- Evaluation of the internal controls relevant to your financial reporting
- A formal audit opinion, issued by [Audit Firm Name] and filed alongside your accounts at Companies House
- A clear management letter — findings and practical recommendations, not just a pass/fail result
Throughout the engagement, Silver Stone Partners remains your primary point of contact for coordination, and continues to provide the risk-based commentary described below — informed by our own understanding of your business — alongside the audit firm’s formal work.
Group, subsidiary, and complex structures: we regularly advise UK subsidiaries of overseas parent companies (including coordinating directly with our own UAE practice for clients with cross-border structures) on group size thresholds, the s.479A parent guarantee exemption route, and consolidation considerations that catch many finance teams out. Where a statutory audit is required as part of this, it is delivered through the same referral arrangement described above.
Beyond Compliance: Risk-Based Assurance
The direction of UK audit regulation itself is moving the same way we’ve always approached assurance. The Financial Reporting Council’s move toward risk-based supervision, and its March 2026 guidance on proportionate SME audits, both reflect a broader shift away from tick-box compliance auditing toward a more forensic evaluation of the operational, financial, and control risks underneath the numbers.
Our risk lens — applied to our own internal audit and risk assurance work, and shared with our audit partner firm on referred statutory engagements — looks at:
Operational risk specific to your industry
The risks that generic audit methodology misses because it isn’t built around how your sector actually operates
Control effectiveness, not just control existence
Testing whether your controls genuinely function day to day, not just whether they’re documented in a policy
Concentration & dependency risk
Over-reliance on key customers, suppliers, staff, or systems that could materially affect the business if disrupted
Governance and oversight
Whether your board or management genuinely has visibility of the risks that matter, in line with expectations under the UK Corporate Governance Code for larger entities
Technology and resilience risk
Increasingly relevant as regulators push operational resilience and cyber governance further up the risk agenda, even for businesses outside financial services
On referred statutory engagements, this is delivered alongside — not instead of — full statutory compliance, so you get an audit opinion that satisfies your legal and stakeholder requirements, plus a genuine, sector-informed view of where your business is actually exposed.
Internal Audit & Risk Assurance
Beyond statutory audit, Silver Stone Partners provides internal audit and risk assurance engagements directly, for businesses that want ongoing, independent evaluation of their controls and operational risk — not just an annual compliance exercise.
- Risk-based internal audit planning, focused on the areas of highest exposure for your specific business
- Internal controls testing across key operational cycles
- Fraud risk assessment
- IT and systems controls review
- Outsourced or co-sourced internal audit function for businesses without a dedicated internal audit team
This work does not require a statutory audit licence and is provided under our own ACCA-regulated practice.
Who This Is For
Companies still within mandatory audit scope
Subsidiaries, larger private companies, and regulated entities requiring a compliant statutory audit
Companies newly exempt under the 2025 threshold changes
Deciding whether a voluntary audit still makes sense given stakeholder, lending, or transaction considerations
Growing businesses preparing for investment, acquisition, or sale
Where audited financials and demonstrable risk management materially affect valuation and deal confidence
Groups with UK and overseas structures
Including UK subsidiaries of foreign parents, and UK businesses with operations in the UAE or elsewhere, where coordinated assurance across jurisdictions matters
Why Silver Stone Partners
ACCA-regulated practice
Silver Stone Partners is regulated by the ACCA for accountancy, tax, and advisory work; statutory audit engagements are delivered through [Audit Firm Name], an independent, appropriately registered audit firm
One coordinated relationship
We manage the referral and stay involved throughout, so you’re not left dealing with a disconnected third party
Partner-level involvement, not a rotating trainee team
One of the most consistent client complaints about larger firms is losing continuity year to year; our model is built around real relationship continuity
Proportionate methodology
Our own risk assurance work is sized to the genuine complexity of your business, not a FTSE-scale process applied to a private company
Genuinely risk-informed, not just compliance-driven
Every engagement we’re involved in includes a real assessment of the operational and industry risks behind your numbers
Cross-border capability
Through our UAE practice, we support groups and individuals with both UK and Gulf interests under one coordinated relationship
Frequently Asked Questions
Not legally, in most cases — but “not required” and “not valuable” aren’t the same thing. If you have lenders, investors, multiple shareholders, or plans to sell the business, a voluntary audit is often still worth having. We can talk through your specific situation and give you a clear recommendation either way.
No. We are regulated by the ACCA for accountancy, tax, and advisory services, but we do not currently hold a licence to conduct statutory audits ourselves. Where a statutory audit is required, we manage the process for you and refer the engagement to [Audit Firm Name], an independent firm appropriately registered to carry out statutory audit work in the UK. The formal audit opinion is issued by that firm, not by Silver Stone Partners. Where we receive a referral fee for making this introduction, that will be disclosed to you in writing in advance.
A statutory audit gives you a formal, legally compliant opinion on your financial statements, issued by our registered audit partner firm. Our risk-based approach is built into how that engagement is coordinated — rather than treating the audit as a checklist exercise, we help ensure the operational and industry-specific risks behind your numbers are assessed as part of it, and we report on them clearly alongside the formal opinion.
It depends on the size and structure of your global group, not just the UK entity in isolation. UK subsidiaries of non-UK parents can’t use the s.479A parental guarantee exemption (that route requires a UK-based parent), so many are still in audit scope even if the UK entity alone looks small. We assess this properly rather than assuming exemption applies, and coordinate the audit itself through our referral partner where one is needed.
Yes. Because the statutory audit is carried out by an independent firm, [Audit Firm Name], and internal audit is delivered directly by Silver Stone Partners, the two roles stay properly separated — which also tends to make the statutory audit smoother, since a well-run internal audit function throughout the year gives the external auditors more to rely on.
Yes — this is an area we’re well placed for. Through our sister practice in Dubai, we coordinate UK and UAE assurance, tax, and compliance as one relationship rather than two disconnected providers.
Ready to Navigate The New Audit Landscape?
Secure your business with proactive risk management and statutory compliance support from London’s leading assurance partners.