I mentioned in my last blog the claim by the Treasury that £3.2 billion has been received from Switzerland - which is being much trumpeted in the press, when TJN has rightly pointed out that no such funds have been received.
Now Richard Brooks has reminded me of the source of the £3.2 billion claim - which comes from the 2012 Autumn Statement costings - which reported as follows, with the Office for Budget Responsibility's comments at the end:
So, this is a number with considerable uncertainty attached to it that has no third party verification or audit approval that has not been received but which Osborne has banked for PR purposes.
I wouldn't trust a second hand car dealer who did such things, let alone a Chancellor. The Treasury really is getting desperate when, quite candidly, it's getting as close to false accounting as this.
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Richard
leaving aside political point-scoring, lets say this was a business.
IYO as a CA, would it be prudent for a business to include this as revenue, bearing in mind the various accounting guidelines ? (New ones of which seem to multiply like Tribbles (anyone remember Star Trek?) virtually every day.)
If I was an auditor and this was in the accounts I’d throw it out
It’s just nonsense to make such a claim in view of the uncertainties inherent in the number
Accounting standards on recognition of revenue get stricter every year – I doubt very much that under any sensible accounting standard that 3.2bn could be booked until it was very certain it was going to be received. It doesn’t sound certain to me so surely not bookable.
We agree
there is absolutely no way on this planet £3.2bn will be received from Switzerland