Financial Reporting & Assurance Service

An audit is the highest level of assurance a CPA firm can provide. Under AICPA auditing standards, we independently test balances and transactions, confirm information directly with third parties such as banks and customers, evaluate internal control, and issue an opinion on whether your financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects. A review (SSARS section AR-C 90) provides limited assurance based on inquiry and analytical procedures, with no testing or confirmation. A compilation (AR-C 80) provides no assurance at all.

Start with whatever document created the requirement. Read the loan agreement, grant award letter, bylaws, partnership agreement, or regulation, and find the exact wording. "Audited financial statements," "reviewed financial statements," and "financial statements prepared by an independent CPA" mean three very different things and carry very different costs. If nothing spells out a specific level, it comes down to business judgment: who relies on your numbers, and how much comfort do they need? That's exactly the kind of question our team is glad to work through with you.

A single audit is required when your organization expends $1 million or more in federal awards during a fiscal year. The test is based on federal funds expended, not received or awarded, and it includes federal money passed through a state agency, a city, or another nonprofit. If you are near the line, the amount on your Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards is what governs.

For most small and mid-size organizations, plan on roughly three to four months from the start of planning to a signed report, with one to two weeks of fieldwork in the middle. The right way to set your schedule is to work backward from the deadline that actually matters to you, not forward from when your books close. Our team will help map out that timeline.

Client readiness is the single biggest factor in whether an audit finishes on schedule. At minimum we will need a closed trial balance, completed bank and investment reconciliations, detailed subsidiary schedules that agree to the general ledger, and copies of significant agreements signed during the year. We provide a detailed request list using a collaborative portal well before fieldwork so nothing is a surprise.

First-year audits take more time and cost more than recurring years, because we have to establish the opening balances rather than rely on our own prior-year work. Under AICPA standards we obtain evidence about beginning balances, review the prior period's accounting policies for consistency, and, if another firm audited you previously, communicate with that firm and review their workpapers.

There's no standard price. The work required varies enormously with the complexity and condition of your records. We scope each engagement and provide a fee estimate before an engagement letter is signed, so you're never agreeing to an open-ended arrangement. Reviews and compilations cost meaningfully less than audits, and a first-year engagement typically costs more than the years that follow.

Yes. Our reports are prepared with third-party audiences in mind, including banks, bonding agents, investors, grantors, and regulatory agencies. If your stakeholders have specific requirements, supplemental schedules, covenant calculations, or a particular disclosure, we want to hear about it at the start of the engagement, not after the report is already drafted.

Both. We serve clients nationwide from offices in Springfield, Kansas City, and Joplin, Missouri, and our association with Allinial Global gives us international reach and resources to serve clients anywhere in the world. Most audits today blend remote work with on-site time, with fieldwork scheduled where it actually matters: inventory observations, walkthroughs, and meetings with your leadership team.

You receive a formal report expressing our opinion or conclusion on your financial statements, together with the financial statements and footnotes, in a form you can provide to lenders, investors, board members, regulators, or grantors. For audits, you also receive a communication to those charged with governance and, in most cases, a management letter identifying internal control observations and practical recommendations.

The three terms describe increasing levels of concern. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, where there's a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement in your financial statements wouldn't be prevented or caught and corrected in time. A significant deficiency is less severe than a material weakness but still important enough to bring to the attention of those charged with governance. Anything else, often noted in a management letter, is a deficiency or efficiency observation that doesn't rise to either level. If you're ever unsure which bucket something falls into, that's a good question to bring to our team.