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.
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.