Audit and Review

Goleta Tax Accountants Audit and Review

Walpole & Co., LLP provides audit and attestation services to small, medium and large private companies and non-profit organizations.

Most of our audit and attest engagements involve providing audit, review, or compilation services, and issuing related reports on our client’s financial statements for the purpose of satisfying requirements of lenders, investors, or other third parties. Below are the different types of audit and attest services we provide and how they differ.

Preparations / Compilations

A preparation or compilation may be useful to small private or non-profit entities that need help in preparing their financial statements. In performing either type of engagement, a CPA prepares financial statements from information provided by management. Alternatively, a compilation is the only engagement in which a CPA can also perform bookkeeping services for the organization and issue a compilation report. This can be especially useful when limited in-house capabilities for preparing financial statements exist. The main difference between a preparation and a compilation engagement is that a preparation typically does not include an accountant’s report, while a compilation engagement does.

Reviews

A review, on the other hand, may be adequate for entities that must report their financial positions to third parties, such as creditors or regulatory agencies. Reviewed financial statements may also be useful to business owners who are not actively involved in managing their companies. In performing a review engagement, a CPA applies inquiry and analytical procedures to financial statements provided by management to determine if the reported amounts appear reasonable. A review provides limited assurance that no material changes need to be made to the financial statements.

Audits

An audit is the third and most extensive service. An audit is appropriate for entities that must offer a higher level of assurance to outside parties. In performing an audit engagement, a CPA examines financial statements by conferring with outside parties, completing physical inspections and observations, and testing selected transactions by examining supporting documentation. An audit provides the highest level of assurance that the financial statements are not materially misstated and are fairly presented.

Agreed Upon Procedures

An agreed-upon procedures engagement is one in which a CPA is engaged by a client to issue a report of findings based on specific procedures performed on a subject matter. In other words, the CPA and the client agree upon the procedures to be performed based on the client’s needs or the needs of specified parties (lenders, investors, or other third parties). These procedures can incorporate testing that is typically done during an audit, but isolated only to include certain transactions, transaction classes, or accounts that are important to the organization or its specified parties.

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