Assurance Services
RP&B’s clients depend on us not only for compliance but as well-informed business advisors. We look to identify risks and strengthen internal controls and after learning about your company, your management team, employees and the numbers, we work as a trusted advisor helping you to use the information we gather, along with benchmarking opportunities to have discussions that can help impact future financial and/or business decisions.
Which Report Should You Use, Audit, Review or Compilation?
Each type of financial statement report may suit specific circumstances, depending on requirements from banks, creditors, and private investors, they often need assurance that financial statements accurately represent the true financial position of a company.
Understanding each report’s unique strengths and weaknesses can help you choose the most appropriate one. Please call if you have questions about which type of report is right for you.
Audit – Highest Level of Assurance
An audit provides the highest level of assurance. An audit is a review and objective examination of the financial statements, including the verification of information as determined by the auditor or as established by general practice.
Our work includes a review of internal controls, testing of selected transactions, and communication with third parties. Based on our findings, we issue a report on whether the financial statements are fairly stated and free of material misstatements.
An Audit allows you to…
Comply with banking covenants.
Help deter and detect material fraud and error.
Facilitate the purchase and sale of businesses.
Review – Limited Assurance
Less extensive than an audit, but more involved than a compilation, a review engagement consists primarily of analytical procedures we apply to the financial statements, and various inquiries we make of your company’s management team. If the financial statements or supporting information appear inconsistent or questionable, we may need to perform additional procedures.
A review does not require us to study and evaluate your company’s internal controls or verify data with third parties or physically inspect assets. Rather, a review report expresses limited assurance in the form of the statement: “We are not aware of any material modifications” for the financial statements to be in conformity with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Reviewed financial statements must include all required footnotes and other disclosures.
Why might a business request a review engagement? It can be a good middle ground, providing the advantages of a CPA’s technical expertise without the work and expense of an audit.
Compilation – Lowest Level of Assurance
In compiling financial statements for a client, we present information that is the “representation of management” and expresses no opinion or assurance on the statements. Compilations don’t require inquiries of management or analytical procedures. Instead, we rely on our knowledge of accounting principles and a general understanding of your business.
Banks often require compilations from an independent CPA as part of their lending covenants.
Our services include:
- Audit, Review and Compilations
- Management Advisory Reports
- Agreed Upon Procedures
- Internal Controls