Kittah Services

Assurance and advice are two complementary aspects of our core expertise and cover a wide range of services to clients of all sizes in many different sectors.

 1.1 Assurance Services

As the name implies, assurance services provide value to decision makers by providing comfort that information they use is reliable. Independence and objectivity, is ensured through appropriate selection, allocation and training of partners and staff, together with the application of high standards of quality control.

Services include:

• Statutory audit, which provides a high level of assurance to those using the annual accounts of companies and other entities
• Non-statutory audit and supplements to statutory audit, which can be tailored to the needs of users and circumstances of the entity being audited.
• Internal audit, providing assurance to management that its systems and controls are effective both in design and in operation.
• Special-purpose reports for particular users who seek independent corroboration of financial information supplied by a business.
• Report on the reliability of non-financial information supplied by entities for various purposes.
• Reporting to regulators on financial and non-financial information produced by regulated businesses

  Our audit methods involve gaining a thorough understanding of an entity’s business, its internal workings, its external environment and the client’s needs so that we can focus on those aspects that demand the most attention during the audit.

  1.2 Advisory services

  Effective management is what turns ideas, products and services into steady profits, but business need stable foundations and even the most creative commercial ideas have to stack up financially. Services include:

  • Helping clients set up reliable accounting and control systems (both computerized and clerical)
  • Assisting clients with the preparation of regular management information, including management accounts, helping clients with the preparation of annual accounts that meet statutory and other requirements.
  • Providing sound and insightful financial advice and commentary based on reviewing the accounts and other information.

  Our partner and staff have amassed a wide range of knowledge, skills and experience working with large and small clients across a very broad range of industries and sectors. They can bring these to bear on your business to ensure that you get maximum value out of an audit, an advisory assignment or even a simple accounts preparation task.

We pride ourselves on the quality of our tax specialists and their ability to deliver a comprehensive yet flexible compliance service to a wide range of business and private clients. This is complemented by the knowledge and experience required to provide sound, efficient tax advice – essential given the increased scope and complexity of tax legislation. Expertise is available on the following areas:

• Capital taxes – capital gains tax, inheritance tax and estate planning
• Corporation tax compliance and planning
• Taxation of professional partnerships
• Income tax, PAYE and NIC planning
• Employee remuneration and benefits planning
• Value-added tax compliance and planning

• Investigations

We have an excellent working relationship with the Revenue Authority (GRA) developed through years of negotiating with them on our client’s behalf. We know their rules, we respect their expertise. In return they respect our role and skills in representing our clients and ensuring their interests are given priority.

2.2 Business Tax Planning

It is all too easy for businesses to find themselves swamped in tax complications. We aim to ease the burden remove the stress from management and provide commercial solutions, leaving clients with more time to get on with running their businesses. We prepare corporate and partnership tax returns, carry out tax planning exercises, advice on PAYE and VAT procedures. Our solutions are relevant and practical.

For our corporate clients, careful tax planning is required for purchases and sales, business reconstructions, valuations, flotation and management buy- outs, employee incentives and pensions. For unincorporated businesses, we regularly provide advice and support on incorporation, mergers and partnership profit-sharing strategies (especially upon withdrawal of the cash basis of accounting). Our clients come to us for commercial and independent advice. We save them money, we save them time and the results are measurable.

2.3 Personal Tax Planning

We offer an independent and confidential service. We offer advice on personal financial planning and minimizing tax liabilities as well as looking after personal tax returns.

2.4 VAT

VAT has gained notoriety for complexity and difficulty. Our VAT specialists will assist in minimizing liability, negotiate with Customs & Excise and provide tax- efficient planning advice.

We specialize in financial investigations and valuations of companies and business in all sectors, providing:

• Pre-acquisition and pre-lending investigations for trade buyers and financial investors
• Post-acquisition investigations to assist in the integration of newly acquired business
• Vendor due diligence, pre-disposal due diligence for vendors and potential acquirers
• Long-form investigations and reports for stock exchange flotations and transactions
• Market valuations of companies and businesses for sale, purchase or fundraising
• DCF valuations of Greenfield businesses, assets and fast-moving technology.

We also specialize in both total out-sourcing and co-sourcing of internal audit services in all sectors. Total out-sourcing involves out-sourcing 100% of the internal audit activity to us, usually on an ongoing basis.

Co-sourcing involves a combination of internal staffing and external out-sourcing in which we support the Chief Audit Executive and the dedicated audit team with supplementary specialist skills that might be too costly to maintain in-house, this is considered a joint engagement and may be ongoing to fulfil specific terms.

We specialize in various forms of Information systems audit. Our audit approach is designed to assess information systems risk exposures. We however provide detailed information systems audit at the request of the client which covers Data center security and controls, User profiles security and controls, Change management controls, Application controls, Backup and recovery/ BCP.

5.1 ACL Software Implementation

We offer training and implementation on Audit Command Language (ACL). ACL has been used widely by several institutions across the globe for data analysis and income assurance. In Ghana, it has been used by institutions such as Zenith bank, HFC bank, Fidelity bank, UT bank, Bayport Financial Services just to name a few. ACL software features robust analytics that will enable an organization to assure transactional data accuracy, completeness and integrity, providing a single point of view into enterprise data through a unique and powerful combination of data access, analysis and integrated reporting capabilities.

Our audit and accounting software professionals are highly qualified and specialized accountants working on the most up-to-date accounting software programs available and also continually stay up-to-date on the newest accounting laws.

Kittah Consult uses the most popular accounting software such as QuickBooks, Quicken, Tally ERP and SAP.