International Audit Services Sarl (IAS)
International Audit Services S.à r.l. (IAS) offers clients a Luxembourg authorised qualified auditing and assurance service.
IAS is authorised and approved by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) as a Cabinet de Révision Agréé (CRA), the Institut des Réviseurs d’Entreprises (IRE) in Luxembourg and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). IAS is managed by Karl Horsburgh who himself is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA) and a Réviseur d’Entreprises Agréé (REA) with over 30 years’ experience in auditing, taxation and accounting.
As such, IAS prides itself at providing an uncomplicated audit service performed by well trained and qualified staff that can converse with clients in their language of choice to plan and perform our audit, discuss with the client, issue a management letter and advise our clients in such languages as English, French, German, Luxembourgish, Italian and Spanish.
We are dedicated to our profession to provide the highest quality service with added value and advice to our international and multinational clientele in whatever sector of the economy that they are active in.
We use International Standards on Auditing as our guiding principles for the audit of those entities that are required by law to have a qualified, authorised auditor to perform an annual audit and to issue an opinion to the shareholders of those entities to be included in their published financial statements and presented at their annual general meeting. Out of the companies that are required to have an audit by a REA or CRA, IAS would be interested in being appointed as CRA to audit:
We also undertake to be timely in providing our service. We use experienced staff to work together with the client’s financial staff and management to be as efficient with the clients’ as with our time and therefore to be able to offer the most value-for-money fee possible.
Period of Appointment of Auditors in Luxembourg:
REA’s or CRA’s are appointed for a period of 1 year, renewable. For companies operating in the Financial Sector or the Insurance Sector, the appointment/dismissal of auditor must be authorized by the CSSF or CAA as appropriate.
Audit Requirement for Companies in Luxembourg
LARGE COMPANIES
The Luxembourg commercial law recognizes six forms of companies as follows:
Those that are subject to the audit requirement by Law by a supervisory (unqualified) auditor (Commissaire aux Comptes – CAC):
The companies that are subject to the audit requirement must be audited, in accordance with International Standards on Auditing, by one or more REA’s or CRA’s appointed by the general meeting of shareholders chosen from the list of REA’s and CRA’s published by the CSSF (www.cssf.lu), if they exceed two of the three limits set out below during two consecutive years:
These criteria are computed by company, except when the company is part of a group which is legally required to prepare and publish consolidated financial statements, in which case, they are computed on a group basis.
CONSOLIDATED GROUPS
The Law of 10 August 1915 on commercial companies, as amended, sets the conditions for the preparation of consolidated accounts.
A Luxembourg company must prepare consolidated accounts if it:
Exempted from consolidation are:
CSSF SUPERVISED COMPANIES
REA OR CRA REPORTS FOR:
IAS is authorised and approved by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) as a Cabinet de Révision Agréé (CRA), the Institut des Réviseurs d’Entreprises (IRE) in Luxembourg and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). IAS is managed by Karl Horsburgh who himself is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA) and a Réviseur d’Entreprises Agréé (REA) with over 30 years’ experience in auditing, taxation and accounting.
As such, IAS prides itself at providing an uncomplicated audit service performed by well trained and qualified staff that can converse with clients in their language of choice to plan and perform our audit, discuss with the client, issue a management letter and advise our clients in such languages as English, French, German, Luxembourgish, Italian and Spanish.
We are dedicated to our profession to provide the highest quality service with added value and advice to our international and multinational clientele in whatever sector of the economy that they are active in.
We use International Standards on Auditing as our guiding principles for the audit of those entities that are required by law to have a qualified, authorised auditor to perform an annual audit and to issue an opinion to the shareholders of those entities to be included in their published financial statements and presented at their annual general meeting. Out of the companies that are required to have an audit by a REA or CRA, IAS would be interested in being appointed as CRA to audit:
- Large companies that have a balance sheet total exceeding EUR 4.4 million, net turnover exceeding EUR 8.8 million and/or employ more than 50 people;
- Consolidated groups that have a balance sheet total exceeding EUR 20 million, net turnover exceeding EUR 40 million and/or employ more than 250 people;
- CSSF supervised companies, such as SICAR, SIF, Securitisation companies and small PSF’s. We do not audit Banks and large UCITS funds.
- REA or CRA reports for:
- Contractual audits (companies having no legal requirement for an audit);
- Contributions in kind, liquidations, mergers, splits;
- Changes in share capital of a company by conversion of reserves and creditors;
- Interim dividend distribution;
- Investment Certificates for Expenditure for Audio Visual productions and Venture Capital.
We also undertake to be timely in providing our service. We use experienced staff to work together with the client’s financial staff and management to be as efficient with the clients’ as with our time and therefore to be able to offer the most value-for-money fee possible.
Period of Appointment of Auditors in Luxembourg:
REA’s or CRA’s are appointed for a period of 1 year, renewable. For companies operating in the Financial Sector or the Insurance Sector, the appointment/dismissal of auditor must be authorized by the CSSF or CAA as appropriate.
Audit Requirement for Companies in Luxembourg
LARGE COMPANIES
The Luxembourg commercial law recognizes six forms of companies as follows:
Those that are subject to the audit requirement by Law by a supervisory (unqualified) auditor (Commissaire aux Comptes – CAC):
- société anonyme (SA) and société européenne (SE) (public company limited by shares);
- société en commandite par actions (SCA) (corporate partnership limited by shares).
- société à responsabilité limitée (SARL) (private limited liability company) except if it has more than 25 members or is defined as a large company;
- société en nom collectif (SNC) (general corporate partnership/unlimited company);
- société en commandite simple (SCS) (limited corporate partnership);
- société coopérative (SCo) (Co-operative society).
The companies that are subject to the audit requirement must be audited, in accordance with International Standards on Auditing, by one or more REA’s or CRA’s appointed by the general meeting of shareholders chosen from the list of REA’s and CRA’s published by the CSSF (www.cssf.lu), if they exceed two of the three limits set out below during two consecutive years:
- Balance sheet total EUR 4.4 million;
- Net turnover EUR 8.8 million;
- Average number of full-time staff employed during the financial year: 50.
These criteria are computed by company, except when the company is part of a group which is legally required to prepare and publish consolidated financial statements, in which case, they are computed on a group basis.
CONSOLIDATED GROUPS
The Law of 10 August 1915 on commercial companies, as amended, sets the conditions for the preparation of consolidated accounts.
A Luxembourg company must prepare consolidated accounts if it:
- holds a majority of the shareholders' or members' voting rights in another undertaking; or
- has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of another undertaking and is at the same time a shareholder in or member of that undertaking; or
- is a shareholder in or member of an undertaking, and controls alone, pursuant to an agreement with other shareholders in or members of that undertaking, a majority of shareholders' or members' voting rights in that undertaking.
Exempted from consolidation are:
- Banks, insurance and reinsurance companies and SEPCAV’s
- Companies when consolidated that do not together, on the basis of their latest annual accounts, exceed the limits of two of the three criteria set out below:
- balance sheet total: EUR 20 million;
- net turnover: EUR 40 million;
- average number of full-time staff employed during the financial year: 250.
- balance sheet total: EUR 20 million;
- A Luxembourg parent company where at least 90% of its share capital and is owned by another company which is governed by the law of a Member State of the European Community if:
- the exempted company and all of its subsidiary undertakings are consolidated in the accounts of the parent company which is audited; and
- the accounts of the consolidated parent company are published in Luxembourg; and
- the notes to the annual accounts of the exempted company disclose the name and registered office of the parent undertaking which draws up the consolidated accounts and the exemption from the obligation to draw up consolidated accounts and a consolidated annual report.
CSSF SUPERVISED COMPANIES
- Banks and other professionals of the financial sector must by law appoint a REA or CRA to:
- audit their financial statements as required by the Law of April 5,1993;
- issue a Long Form Report in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the CSSF circulars;
- issue specific reporting on particular issues or aspects of the activities and operations upon client’s and/or CSSF request.
- Investment Funds (SICAV/SIF/SEPCAV) and Investment Vehicles (SICAR, Securitization Vehicle) must by law appoint a REA or CRA to:
- audit their financial statements in accordance with the Law;
- issue a Long Form Report in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the CSSF circulars.
- Companies in the Insurance Sector that are authorised and supervised by the CAA must by law appoint a REA or CRA to:
- audit their financial statements in accordance with the amended laws of December 6, 1991 and December 8, 1994;
- issue the special report in accordance with the requirements set forth in the circular letters issued by the CAA.
REA OR CRA REPORTS FOR:
- Contribution in Kind Report
Article 26-1 (2) of the Law of August 10, 1915, as amended, requires a CRA or REA to issue a report on the valuation of an asset that is contributed instead of cash on the incorporation of a company, or the increase of the share capital of a company. - Conversion or Compensation of Reserves or Conversion of Liabilities into Share Capital
A Luxembourg Notary requires a report from a Luxembourg REA or CRA to certify that sufficient reserves exist or that a creditor that will be converted to share capital actually exists and is correctly valued by the directors of the company or that losses are correctly stated against which share capital will be compensated. - Investment Certificates for Expenditure in the Audio Visual (Films) and Venture Capital