Further to guidance from the Environment Agency last week, it is now clear that the £12 per tonne CRC levy for the carbon year ending of 31 March will be payable on or by the end of July 2012. That means that carbon accounts for the year ending March 31 2012 must be collated, checked, prepared and signed off (including all supporting evidence) within 4 months of the year end. If you were involved in the footprint year calculations you will appreciate the difficulty of doing this, even within simple structures, which most CRC participants are not. Given the financial impact of erroneous reporting, there is very good reason to plan your company’s internal audit to be carried out prior to submission.
Carrying out a ‘self-certified’ internal audit is a legal requirement of the CRC EES. This should be signed off by the ‘senior officer’. It is well known that failure to comply with the scheme and inaccurate reporting carry harsh penalties for the business and a personal liability for the senior officer. We know that the Environment Agency have requested details of the internal audit (evidence and certification) from those companies targeted in year 1 of the scheme. Those companies failing to produce this will be subject to the close scrutiny of the scheme’s auditors KPMG for an on-site 2 day audit.
Remember the Environment Agency have stated that all participants will be audited in the first phase (4 years) of the scheme. Now is the perfect time to plan your internal audit.
Ask us to help. We can make sure you have everything in place you need and your compliance this year will be easy to manage. Call us on 0845 543 9003 or have a look at our Internal Audit questionnaire at www.carboncredentials.net
Regards
Richard
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