Communities for Renewables (CFR)

Established to help community energy enterprises, local authorities and social landlords develop, finance and manage their own renewable energy generation, Communities for Renewables (CFR) has helped more than 30 projects across the south of England deliver over 35MW of community solar power.

With what started in a broom cupboard in 2012, CFR was the brainchild of managing director, Jake Burnyeat, who was frustrated by the fact that energy generation was rapidly becoming decentralised, but ownership and economic benefit was not. Set up with £450,000 of risk investment raised from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and a Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) share offer, CFR began to trade as a Community Interest Company (CIC)

Right from the start CFR has worked with Simpkins Edwards as their auditors. The firm has a particular expertise in dealing with organisations operating in The Third Sector. The firms Senior Statutory Auditors, Jon Williams and John Coombs are supported by a team including senior audit manager Ken Brimacombe and Paul Burgess, who work directly with CFR.

Commenting on the support provided by Simpkins and Edwards, Jake says “We’ve worked together since our seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) share offer back in 2012. At that point we were very much a start-up. We needed a firm with a reputation that could give our investors confidence and grow with us. Simpkins Edwards provided that. They’ve been great. As well as the run of the mill audit work, Simpkins Edwards have helped us through some quite technical accounting matters, which has required a detailed understanding of the business.”

While CFR is not in itself required to have a statutory audit, they see it as a valuable endorsement as a CIC, and essential to the success of the business, which has been profitable for two years, paying a dividend to its seed investors, and repaying its seed loan from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

As Jake says “Whilst is takes time and effort to get through it, it’s a good opportunity to review everything in detail. We have low transaction numbers for our turnover, so we still have a highly substantive sample-based audit. Simpkins Edwards really do see it all. They are a huge help to us, a real pleasure to work with, and I would have no hesitation recommending them to other organisations requiring audit, whether as a legal requirement or as an assurance of business controls and procedures.”

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