audit

Management letters: Follow up on your auditor’s recommendations

Maintaining the status quo in today’s volatile marketplace can be risky. To succeed, businesses need to “level up” by being proactive and adaptable. But some managers may be unsure where…

Audit disclosures: Why the fine print is important

Footnotes appear at the end of a company’s audited financial statements. These disclosures provide insight into account balances, accounting practices and potential risk factors — knowledge that’s vital to making…

Are You Ready For The Upcoming Audit Season?

An external audit is less stressful and less intrusive if you anticipate your auditor’s document requests. Auditors typically ask clients to provide similar documents year after year. They’ll accept copies…

CAMs: Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Auditors of public companies started reporting critical audit matters (CAMs) in their audit opinions in 2019. This represents a major change to the pass-fail auditors’ reports that had been in…

5 possible tax aspects of a parent moving into a nursing home

If you have a parent entering a nursing home, you may not be thinking about taxes. But there are a number of possible tax implications. Here are five. 1. Long-term…

Have you followed up on the management letter from your audit team?

Auditors typically deliver financial statements to calendar-year businesses in the spring. A useful tool that accompanies the annual report is the management letter. It may provide suggestions — based on…

IRS Audits May Be Increasing, So Be Prepared

The IRS just released its audit statistics for the 2020 fiscal year and fewer taxpayers had their returns examined as compared with prior years. But even though a small percentage…

Accounting Estimates Present Challenges in Times of Uncertainty

In today’s unprecedented market conditions, it can be challenging to predict metrics that underlie your company’s accounting estimates. Examples of key “unknowns” include how much longer certain pandemic issues will…

What’s “Fair Value” in an Accounting Context?

In recent years, the accounting rules for certain balance sheet items have transitioned from historical cost to “fair value.” Examples of assets that may currently be reported at fair value…

4 Ways to Improve the Effectiveness of Your Audit Committee

An Audit committee faces many challenges in 2021. As the economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are new dimensions to the oversight roles and responsibilities of the audit committee.…

Analytical Procedures Can Help Make Your Audit More Efficient

The use of audit analytical procedures can help during the planning and review stages of the audit. But analytics can have an even bigger impact when these procedures are used…

Assessing and Mitigating Key Person Risks

Auditing standards require a year-end risk assessment. One potential source of risk may be a small business’s reliance on the owner and other critical members of its management team. If…

How COVID-19 Could Impact Year-End Inventory Counts

Many businesses are closed or are limiting third-party access as COVID-19 surges across the United States. These restrictions could still be in place at year end — a time when…

Year-End SWOT Analysis can Uncover Risks

As your company plans for the coming year, management should assess your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A SWOT analysis identifies what you’re doing right (and wrong) and what outside…