Audits can provide some reassurance that everything is "right," even if you don't think something is "wrong."

I've lost count of the number of times I've seen a nonprofit absolutely pillaged by either a) the board member(s) with signing authority or b) their retained, paid Executive Director where a halfway competent audit would've tipped off the board YEARS earlier.

Regular audits aren't necessarily the right tools if you have actual suspicion (an investigation might be better) but it's often a reasonable part of a "trust, but verify" posture.

when I was VP of my HOA we would have a full audit of our books every three years and during one audit we uncovered errors from our local CPA and were able to correct them

I'll just leave this here:

https://abc11.com/hoa-fraud-em...an-arrested/1654671/

https://www.wral.com/clayton-w...from-hoas-/16637257/

You already know the answer.

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We used to say that annual audits and two week minimum vacation for the accounting personne doing the work,

Of course if the Auditor and the accountant are screwing, that all goes out the window...

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
We used to say that annual audits and two week minimum vacation for the accounting personne doing the work,

I wish I could get a two week vacation.

Depending on the level of involvement of the CPA firm providing the bookkeeping services, they may be independent enough to provide an audit or review.

quote:

I wish I could get a two week vacation.

True, the point being accountants and anyone managing funds, collections, receiveables, inventory, etc needs to take vacation time, and generally a week at a time.

Makes it harder to keep hiding thiungs

The POA collects no more than $260,000 a year in dues and fees. I am going to suggest we solicit proposals for an audit review.

Requesting an “audit review” is akin to requesting a “car scooter”.

Hard to request the right service until you better understand the specific risks and how a given service might / might not mitigate the risks.

Even full F/S audits were not originally designed to catch fraud nor assess the entity’s internal controls. The scope has broadened to include a report on controls related to financial reporting, but that evolution is mostly for publicly-traded companies.

You’re welcome to buy that $10,000 safe but it seems an expensive solution to safekeeping a 10-yr-old generic Glock from your child.