The SNP’s week goes from bad to worse. The party’s long-term auditing firm has resigned, according to reports today. Accountants Johnston Carmichael, which has worked with the party for over a decade, said that the decision followed a review of its client portfolio. The firm is understood to have resigned before the arrest of Nicola Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell on Wednesday, according to the BBC.
The SNP must now present their accounts to the Electoral Commission by early July or else face possible sanctions under political funding laws. The nationalists are currently looking for a replacement firm as political parties with an income or expenditure of more than £250,000 are required by law to independently audit their accounts and include this in their submission. Accounts are from the calendar year, not the financial year and the deadline for 2022 accounts is 7 July 2023. If no report is provided and no reasonable excuse is offered then the Electoral Commission can appoint its own firm of auditors to investigate the SNP’s accounts.
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