Grant Thornton has launched what it describes as the first audit service to provide assurance to creditors and lenders that IVA factories and debt management companies are correctly following legislation and providing best practice advice.
The launch follows adverse publicity over the behaviour of debt management companies and IVA factories, and comes at a time when the industry is looking to regulate itself with help from the Insolvency Practitioners' Association .
Last week, Accountancy Age revealed that IVA business Debt free Direct was set to appoint an accounting firm to audit its IVA processes. It was not known whether Grant Thornton is the firm in question at the time of going to press.
Grant Thornton head of IVAs Mark Allen said there was a genuine willingness by many operators to subject their processes and procedures to third-party scrutiny.
Allen said: 'IVA audits will bring certainty to the IVA market, reassure users and lenders alike and hopefully help dispel some of the negative perceptions that the industry has attracted in recent months. Or at least allow their creditors to distinguish the high performers in the industry.'
The new service will also include an outsourcing division that will manage IVA correspondence and caseloads on behalf of banks.
But to ensure independence in the audit process, the caseload outsourced to Grant Thornton's will be audited by a third party, as will their own cases.
However, audit of their own work will not begin until they are confident that another accounting firm can provide such a service.
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