Thetownend.com

Shah gets Town's house in order
           
           


  SWINDON Town’s accounts had not been the subject of a fully independent audit for the best part of 15 years prior to this week, according to Robins director Sangita Shah.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/10675350.Shah_gets_Town_s_house_in_order/?ref=rss
           
           
           

San-gee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth.

I think I'm in love.  :-[

Having just read that article it is amazing that the so called prudent days of the past couple of regimes have never completed an audit - mind you I am not surprised that the Diamond Geezer never bothered!!

I wish we weren't using Hacker Young

Whats the difference between doing this kind of audit and completing a normal set of accounts?

Well done Sangita. I knew from the second an Indian joined the board we were on a good thing.

Who's house?

Shahs house!

(Run Dmc)

No you can't take her with you from hotel to hotel without her parents' knowledge.

I share pretty much everyones positive comments about the they way the club appears to be being run. However, when it comes to figures a clever accountant can make the numbers dance to any tune they wish and present these in any way they like good or bad.

Whilst i find it hard to understand why previous custodians of our club have never had a "proper" audit, it does not come as any surprise when you take into account some of the unsavoury characters who have held power at SN1. That said i hope that nothing damaging is uncovered but that if there is we have the opportunity to seek reasonable and realistic redress from any individual who can be held accountable.

We'll probably be put under another transfer mbongo as it emerges that we still owe money for Harold Fleming.

Or something.

Shah is wrong, during the Diamandis days the club was audited every year (last time was the 2006 accounts).

The accounts information released during the Fitton/Black era was far beyond what was required and of course the company is not of sufficient size to require an audit and in one sense it is a waste of money. The only reason to audit the accounts is to look good to those outside of the club.

EDIT: Not that I'm moaning, it's definitely a good thing but the main thing will be the full accounts being made available to the fans as they have been previously.

Accounts are prepared according to the accounting rules regardless. The auditors do a series of checks/tests based on where they view the main areas of risks for material financial misstatements. How thorough will depend on the auditor. The auditor will then express an opinion on the accounts and pretty much whether you can place reliance on them.

Top ten posts of the year in my book.

It worries me that in this and other pieces of spin we're being sold a tale that JedCo are having to bring order to the shoddy chaos that went before. As Si points out above, this simply isn't the case here. If they're doing it to burnish their own reputation as a bit of "Look how good we are", then well I suppose everyone does that. But it worries me as to why they feel the need to do so.

What did we expect,  the Advertiser decided to interview the finance director,  would people have preferred an in depth introduction and analysis of the double entry system?

Yes the accounts were audited in the past by the previous boards chosen auditors who did a fine job no doubt.  However the incomers are quite within their rights to get it done again,  and the fact that historic debts appear to have been overlooked previously suggests may be a good idea. One thing that does seem clear with this new lot is that they don't spend cash for the sake of it so if they are paying for this to be done it suggests they have their reasons.

Considering in the last 6 months of operation the old board were engaging in shit or bust business spending the owners money at a rate he wasn't aware of,  pandering to a manager who had no apparent idea of financial management and throwing contracts about like confetti it would appear sensible to establish once and for all what liabilities remain/exist.

audited by Priciopolis Wateros Cooperlopolis no doubt?

BUT WHY ARE THE PIES SO EXPENSIVE

Because the filling is so nice :no:

They are a little expensive but they're definitely good pies.

Yep, all fair enough. I wasn't suggesting there was anything wrong with them doing an audit, which is mainly what you cover above - that seems a very sensible idea for all the reasons you outline. But it just worries me when we're being sold a line for no obvious reason

Black knew what was being spent...he didn't get where he is today by letting folk spend his money without knowing what was going out.
Not sure that i go along with this misplaced theory that Andrew Black was stupid enough not to know what was going on.
Unless you can show me something that proves me wrong in which case fair enough.

But as you say it is indeed good and common sense thinking by the new regime.

Pretty sure it was Black himself that said more money was being spent than he knew about.

 
Pretty sure eh :hmmm:

There's a distinction to be made though. End of year accounts tell you what has happened, not what's happening. It's great to know what has happened 6-9 months after year end but it doesn't indicate anything about the current affairs or necessarily how the company is being run. The auditors won't delve into the current financials to anywhere near the same extent as part of the year-end audit. An audit of prior events doesn't indicate sound running of operations.

And the previous auditors did not pander to the management/owners, which is why James Wills refused to sign off the accounts for a long time because he didn't agree with the auditors statement which suggested that the (then) holding co was worthless.

I'm sure Hacker Young will do a fine job, I'm sure their audit department is more competent than the corporate insolvency part of the firm.

I'm not moaning, transparency is good, an audit will hopefully be worthwhile, making produced accounts available to the fans is important and having a confidence in the financial affairs of the club equally so. I think most important is the communication of facts at the point in time it happens which is something that has been massively improved in the last couple of months or so.

However the proof of the pudding is in the eating and talk is cheap.

I presume you mean this quote?

"I had had a sense of humour failure when the club breached the wage cap and went into embargo. I had repeatedly asked at the board for all player transactions to be communicated and I had had virtual radio silence."
http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/10245156.Black_reveals_all_on_Twitter/

By pretty sure, I mean, I am absolutely positive because I read it myself.

That said when the report is printed off and bound and the current board have gone over it with a variety of brightly coloured highlighter pens, they're only going to tell us what they think we need to know. It's a business after all and a privately owned one at that. So who knows what they will find and who knows what they will disclose.