Church Audits - Selecting a Qualified Auditor While Keeping Cost Low

A Church may require an audit for many reasons such as 1) to obtain a bank loan 2) a requirement from a regulatory body 3) to ensure that good stewardship is being used in the handling and accounting of the funds 4) to protect the persons elected or hired to offices of financial responsibility from unwarranted charges of careless or improper handling of funds 5) and to build the trust and confidence of the financial supporters of the church that there is proper accounting of their money - trust and confidence leads to improved patterns of financial support.

When you have decided to hire the services of an accountant it is important that you ensure that you hire a qualified, skilled professional. This article will address the qualifications you should look for in your accountant as well as ways to keep cost low. When it is time to hire the services of an accountant it is important to ensure that you know the level of services needed (as this greatly impacts cost) and it is also important to assess the qualifications of the accountant selected. Providing audit request timely will also keep cost down.

Below is an explanation of the three levels of services provided by an auditor; as well as some important factors to consider when selecting an auditor. Auditors provide three types of services listed below. If applying for a loan you should have your auditor communicate with the lending institution to ensure that you get the right level of service required for the loan. The three types of services are:

1) Audit - provides the highest level of assurance on the financial statements. It includes a review of internal controls if relied upon, testing of selected transactions and communication with third parties such as customers, vendors and banks.

2) Review - provides a lower level of assurance than an audit. It consists of discussions with management and analytical procedures applied to financial data. The accountants' report provides limited assurance.

3) Compilation - consists of preparing financial statements from information provided by the company. The accountants report states that they have not performed an audit or review and that no assurance is being provided. A compilation is the lowest in cost and at times all a bank requires.

Some key items to consider when selecting your church auditor are:

Ensure the auditor is licensed. When engaging an auditor you may wish to verify with the appropriate State regulatory authority that the provider holds a valid, up-to-date license or certificate to perform auditing services

Ensure the auditor is experienced with the unique requirements of church accounting. Ask the auditor for references from other churches that they have audited.

Ensure the auditor is reliable and timely. Ask the auditor or his references about estimated time of completion for the audit. If applying for a loan timeliness is of the utmost importance.

Ensure the auditor is independent. The auditor should not have any financial interest in the church that would affect their ability to render an objective, unbiased opinion.

Suzette Porter is a Certified Public Accountant with nearly 15 years experience with church and other non profit organizations. She is a partner with Business and Accounting Solutions, a Florida based firm that provides cost effective church audit, reviews and compilations nationwide. For more information contact us at http://www.BusinessandAccountingSolutions.com or 1-866-678-6588.

Suzette Porter, CPA http://www.BusinessandAccountingSolutions.com Sporter@BASPartners.com

SMSF Auditor - Do You Need to Have Your SMSF Audited?

The federal government intends to look at the Cooper Review recommendation on SMSF auditor autonomy to determine whether or not alterations are needed to the current standards. Leon Yap delivers tremendous experience auditing across several legislative frameworks and is an accredited professional SMSF auditor. A good solid Self Managed Super Fund is necessary to be audited by your Recognized SMSF Auditor.

Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) have been capable to buy property, when it is in accordance with ones own investment system, although not many of them meet the expense of to due to the fact until September 2007 they could never borrow. The Superannuation Industry Supervision Act 1993 demands trustees of the SMSF to be able to have their particular fund audited each year by an licensed smsf auditor. Just about all superannuation funds usually are necessary to appoint trustees.

The ATO' s SMSF Announcement gives regular information and facts for trustees connected with self managed super funds, income tax agents, authorized auditors, financial planners and also administrators around key regulatory and administrative topics, and also any kind of essential advancements of great interest with the industry. Due to the laws around super funds, they can be dealt with quite diversely pertaining to lending purposes. In order to be eligible to tax concessions available to complying funds, a self managed fund must satisfy selected residency conditions and be viewed as a resident regulated fund all the time within the income yr.

An in-house asset is really a loan to, a great investment in, or perhaps a lease with, an associated party of your fund, or even an investment within a connected trust of the fund. Normally, being a trustee you can be restricted from loaning to, investing in or perhaps leasing to a associated party of the fund more than 5% of the fund's total assets.

The SMSF can also be necessary to be audited by a great Authorized SMSF Auditor. Furthermore, the increased concentration on important problems such as auditor independence and SMSF auditor proficiency requirements has heightened the interest being paid to SMSF auditors along with the robustness with the audit that they conduct for your SMSF. The SMSF Audit Firm audit organization not only eliminates any independence issues yet also enhances your entire SMSF service offering to your current clients by partnering through an market prominent expert SMSF service provider.

In certain cases it might be organized for the SMSF Audit Firm auditor to call at your practice either to talk about our own services or conduct the audits.

The service is definitely very dissimilar to the common "once a year" service that a lot of clientele of the accounting practice are generally use to. We are able to offer a whole system including audit or perhaps you may wish to conduct the audit.

For further information about the SMSF Audit Firm Audit's expertise please call 1300-595-550 or perhaps go to Our Website

If you need a SMSF auditor then look no further.