CPAs Provide Client Assurance
A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) who is providing assurance for clients must follow
standard monitoring processes. This is necessary both when conducting peer to peer reviews, as well as when
undertaking a review of financial statements for businesses in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). Only the nature and
depth of the reviews varies.
CPA firms in the GTA must undergo on-going monitoring and sometimes they lack the appropriately
qualified employee in-house to carry out the necessary analysis. In that case, it is necessary to outsource the
task to another CPA firm.
Similarly, a cyclical inspection of a firm’s completed files must be undertaken. At least one
engagement per partner must be inspected once every three years and, again, an outside firm can be brought in to
fulfill the task.
In addition to self-regulation, CPAs can ensure your firm is maintaining the quality of its
audit and reviews. In an ever-changing field of regulation, qualified CPAs can also assist a client (or another
firm) to stay up-to-date with legislative, regulatory and professional standards.
Review Engagements are One Form of Monitoring
The purpose of a review engagement is to deliver a limited opinion on the financial statements
of a company. Essentially it determines only that something does not exist – that there are no material
errors in that financial statement and that its findings are free from fraud. This process has been described as
limited assurance or negative engagement. It is carried out by an external accountant.
A review engagement is different from a compilation, in that it requires some testing of the
information supplied, whereas a compilation relies on whatever information is provided. Unlike with a compilation,
the accountant is expressing an opinion and also working in accordance with applicable reporting
frameworks.
Audited financial statements are the strongest level of assurance service. Its goal is to
provide reasonable assurance that financial statements are free of material misstatement. It also confirms that
those statements have been prepared in accordance with accepted accounting frameworks. It requires a more rigorous
investigative process than a review engagement before a positive assurance is issued.
What Kind of Firm Can Carry out Review Engagements?
As mentioned, a review engagement is carried out by an external accountant. This happens after a
company’s financial statements have already been prepared and certified as accurate.
The St. Catharines-based firm of Jones & O’Connell LLP is one firm that is often called upon
to perform review engagements. The certifications and experience of its partners and associates allow them to
carry out a team-based approach to solving client’s needs, depending on what is needed. CPAs are available for out
of office assurance tasks such as review engagements and they can carry them out in the Niagara Region, as well as
the Golden Horseshoe and GTA.
If you require a review of your financial statements, call upon Jones & O’Connell LLP. They
are equipped to serve a broad range of businesses and clients, as well as other CPA firms and Credit Unions.
Focuses include financial planning and forecasting; systems planning; corporate and personal tax compliance and
planning; financial advice; and general consulting. The company is also available to help set up computer
accounting systems for clients.