Our certified public accountants specialize in all aspects of audits, reviews & compilations.
Audit
A financial statement audit is an in-depth review of a corporation’s accounting data summaries. It also involves tests of financial statement line items, such as assets and liabilities, and tests of individual account balances. An external auditor, otherwise known as a certified public accountant (CPA), performs financial tests to gather “sufficient and competent evidential matter. “Evidential matter” is proof upon which a CPA bases his audit opinion. “Evidential matter: is “competent” when it is relevant to the process, segment or business unit under review.
A CPA performs tests on four types of financial statements to gather sufficient and competent evidential matter. He tests a balance sheet, also called statement of financial position, to gauge a comapany’s economic robustness and cash availability. A CPA appraises a firm’s profit potential by auditing the statement of profit and loss or statement of income. A review of a statement of cash flows helps and external auditor understand an organization’s cash inflows (receipts) and cash outflows (payments) over a period of time. A CPA also reviews a corporation’s statement of equity to evaluate transactions involving shareholders.
Review
A CPA may express limited (negative) assurance on financial statements that have not been audited. The objective of a review engagement is t0 express limited assurance that there are no material modifications that should be made to the financial statements in order for the statements to be in conformity with the applicable financial reporting framework. A review is based on inquiry and analytical procedures performed by the CPA. A review is both an assurance engagement and an attest engagement.
Compilation
In a compilation engagement, the objective is to present in the form of financial statements information that is the representation of management without undertaking to express any assurance on the financial statements. The CPA does not perform any audit or review procedures. Although a compilation is not an assurance engagement, it is an attest engagement.
Agreed-Upon Procedures Engagements
An agreed-upon procedures engagement is one in which the practitioner is engaged by a client to issue a report of findings based on specific agreed-upon procedures. It may be performed on the designated subject matter of a wide variety of assertions as a result of a need of specific parties. Attestation standards apply to all agreed-upon procedures engagements, including those related to items from a financial statement. A written assertion generally is not required.