Financial Services
Finance is where an organization’s sustainability is either secured or quietly lost. We work in three layers — assess, move you to the cloud, or run the books outright.
Start anywhere in the stack
Most clients begin with the assessment and stop there. Some go all the way to a managed CPA engagement. Both are fine.
1. Financial assessment
A thorough analysis of inefficiencies in your financial workflows and controls, identifying deviations from GAAP principles and from IRS guidance on taxation, filings, and benefits management at state and federal level.
2. Cloud accounting
Accounting moved onto Xero, our cloud-based platform of choice — lower software spend, financial data backed up rather than sitting on one machine, and workflows that automate. We handle the migration.
3. Fully managed CPA
Our CPA team manages, reconciles, audits, and closes your books, working alongside your accounting people so quarterly and annual statements match what actually happened in the field — and in your banking.
For nonprofits we also engage project by project — integrating with your existing CRM and ERP, moving toward dimensional accounting aligned to your corporate strategy, and producing impact-based reporting for your stakeholders.
Six phases, every time
An engagement performed by an independent Certified Public Accountant, giving assurance that your financial statements are reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Each audit is customized to the organization; the approach underneath it does not change.
1. Engagement acceptance
The AICPA recommends an auditor evaluate the risks attached to each engagement, so we ask about special circumstances, the integrity of management, and pending lawsuits before performing any assessment or audit. We also evaluate the staffing needed, and confirm each staff member can maintain an independent viewpoint throughout. Once we accept, an engagement letter sets out timing, responsibility, and cost.
2. Planning
Auditing standards require adequate planning, and the amount needed scales directly with the size and complexity of the organization. Planning means understanding your business and industry, performing trend and ratio analysis, documenting your process of internal control, and assessing the risk of misstatement. The results determine the timing and extent of testing.
3. Audit tests
Fieldwork. Our consultants spend time in your offices testing financial data — for instance, selecting a random sample of a hundred disbursements to confirm cheques are payable to the correct vendor for the correct amount, then reviewing the associated invoices to confirm expenses are classified correctly and the vendor exists at all.
4. Account analysis
Ensuring account balances are supported by underlying documentation. We evaluate test results, review management’s and the accounting team’s responses to our inquiries, record audit-adjusting journal entries, and document the reasons for large year-on-year changes.
5. Reporting
We issue an opinion on the audited financial statements as to whether they are presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP, on the Independent Auditor’s Report. We may also draft the basic financial statements and accompanying notes for management, and we issue a separate report on any weaknesses found in internal control.
6. Summation
Auditors are required to retain accurate, secure documentation of the audit. The final step obtains signatures from management confirming their responsibility for the information reported. The documentation is retained and shared with your financial leadership, and matters should any question later arise about the reported amounts.
The Financial Management Assessment sits inside our organizational assessments
Where are your books today?
Tell us what you’re running on and what’s going wrong with it. Thirty minutes will tell you which of the three layers you actually need.
- A straight answer on scope and timeline, not a sales pitch
- No charge, and no obligation to engage us
- You talk to a senior consultant, not an account rep
- Prefer to talk now? 719-204-3101