As a business owner or professional, are you sure that all of your business concerns are being properly addressed? Do you have specific concerns about how a process is running? Are you certain that all of those contract terms are being complied with? Or, are you simply trusting a “gut feeling” that all is going according to plan?
Perhaps an “Agreed Upon Procedures” (AUP) engagement is what you need to focus your time, energy, and professional fees in the right direction. AUP engagements are a cost effective, targeted, and efficient approach to answer specific questions that you have about your business.
Traditionally, the business world has relied upon financial statement audits to provide a comfort level that “everything is okay”. While an audit does provide reasonable assurance over the financial statements in general, in an increasingly regulatory environment, it may not be able to answer the specific concerns that you have about your business. Although not all-inclusive, the following illustrates some situations where we may be able to offer solutions through an AUP engagement.
Potential AUP Solutions
- Internal Controls – Have you invested time, energy, and professional fees into carefully crafting an internal control policy? Do you know if those controls are consistently being adhered to by your employees? We can help by providing you with a written independent analysis of the internal control environment surrounding specific financial statement accounts and operational processes, and document whether or not your employees are adhering to the system.
- Third Party Contracts – Do you place full trust in a third party to adhere to the terms of a contractual agreement? How do you know that you are getting your fair share of payments in accordance with the contract provisions? We can help you by performing an AUP that will tell you if you are due additional monies or if your business is in compliance itself. We can do this for just about any type of significant contracts (e.g. royalty, construction, etc.).
- Business/Asset Acquisitions – Are you looking to acquire a competitor or an ancillary line of business to expand your operations? We can perform an AUP that specifically addresses your financial due diligence concerning the validity of financial information provided by the target company. Gone unchecked, unconfirmed financial data has the potential to impact purchase price and/or asset valuations.
As the name implies, an AUP engagement is tailored to a client’s specific needs. It places the client in control by providing a comfort level and value-added service that readily addresses the most pressing concerns. If you have concerns regarding your business or a new venture, we would be delighted to discuss them with you.