An independent auditor is also referred to as a non-profit auditor, working on behalf of your organization, reviewing the entire general accounting records, bills, statements, expenditures (expenses) and financial statements of your NGO or non-profit based entity. It is a third-party or an external auditing professional that reviews all your accounting records, by performing an independent investigation. Even though nonprofit organizations do NOT have to pay any taxes to the federal government, they are required to perform audits on a yearly or biannual basis. The basic idea behind one such independent audit is to provide nonprofit organizations with all types of financial information, such as national or international funding, loans, transactions, etc. that the organization is receiving or spending. So, where to find the services of one such nonprofit auditor in the US? At “Ageras”, you can now get access to some of the reputable non-profit auditors in your city, as they help you find the perfect accounting & audit professionals near you through their vast network of CPAs, personal tax accountants, tax preparers and auditors.
Who is a Nonprofit Auditor?
A nonprofit audit professional is hired to maintain, handle and effectively track all the financial activities that the charitable organization is performing. This is to ensure maximum transparency, as well as prevent any kind of fraudulent activities, especially funds embezzlement or incorrect and manipulated bills, regarding funds, charitable donations and loans. Just like a regular auditing professional, nonprofit audits contain the same amount of complexity, criticality and vastness. After all, it is all about funds and transactions that a charitable organization or NGO performs, on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
How Does ‘Ageras’ Help?
You simply need to fill an online form, mentioning your specific company/organization requirements regarding a non-profit auditor, and they provide you with 3 ‘no-obligation’ or ‘non-binding’ quotes within 1-2 days. Here, you provide a short note regarding the services that your organization performs and the specific purpose for which you need to hire one such auditing or accounting professional near you. It is their responsibility to provide you with 3 best matches in your city or town that you can compare. It is 100% FREE quotes, by matching your company profile and job role.
The Specific Role of a Nonprofit Auditor
Firstly, a nonprofit auditor helps enhance the transparency of a charitable organization, by tracking and maintaining all the financial dealings, records, statements & bills. It is quite essential for any non-profit organization to communicate to its international donors or investors that it is making the desired improvements in a certain activity or place for the funds it has received. This helps in maintaining the trust among its investors, as they’re able to understand that you’re wisely utilizing the funds provided by them and taking your organization’s financial management quite seriously.
Secondly, it helps in maintaining the accountability factor. A regular audit about the accounts of your charitable organization, every one or two year, ensures that you’re quite serious about upholding the high standards of financial transactions, cash dealings and have a strict control over time, when it comes to executing charitable projects.
Lastly, nonprofit audits help in identifying the key opportunities for your company or organization, thus improving its policy formulation goals and long-term strategies in the area of new investment in providing free utility services to the population or the needy.
What Exactly is a Nonprofit Audit?
In any nonprofit audit, a tax or an accounting professional would thoroughly examine all your organization’s financial records, statements, transactions and accounting practices. As a matter of fact, not every nonprofit organization requires an audit. It is up to the organization to go ahead with a federally sponsored nonprofit audit for maintaining transparency of its financial records or else opt for an independent audit, as per the size of the organization and the source of funding. Even if nonprofit organizations here in the US are not required or forced to conduct any audit of their records, still many such entities consider doing so, in order to maintain a high degree of transparency in its monetary dealings, expenses and funding that it receives. In this way, they are able to maintain a transparent and manipulation-free accounts book that eventually helps them in getting increased funding, investment and loans in the future, as investors look for donating to a charitable organization that has got a ‘good’ track record and a fraudulent free practice. Therefore, the benefits of going ahead with an independent audit, includes building trust and rapport with its shareholders, stakeholders, investors, donors, etc. that provide the Board of Directors the confidence in its organization’s financial statements.
When to Perform a Nonprofit Audit & the Cost?
In the process of submitting the results to an organization, it becomes essential to plan and strategize your audits, as per their specific requirements. It is definitely a complicated process that can consume a lot of time, in order to flawlessly prepare, execute and integrate the company/organization recommendations. Here, you need to ensure that your nonprofit audit is complete, before you file the Form 990, which is a standard norm and industry practice, here in the US. The Form 990 must incorporate all the necessary adjustments made by the nonprofit or charitable organization, as a result of the external or independent audit. If the audit is not executed before filing of the Form 990, you get an option to file an extension on Form 8868.
Nevertheless, a non-profit audit must be carried out when your charitable entity wants to receive monetary funding from the federal government, its shareholders, investors and international donors. It is quite a common phenomenon across the world for investors or a donor to not fund a charitable organization that does not have a clean record (book) or shy away from providing audited financial records. Therefore, an audit process ensures that your NGO maintains a high level of transparency, regarding the funds, donations, investments and loans that it receives. Lastly, coming to the cost part, a professional audit firm or an auditor can charge on an hourly basis or on a contractual basis. It all depends upon the geographical location, type, size, extent and nature of the audit performed. On an average, the rates hover anywhere in-between $5k – $10k and in some cases it can exceed to $20,000 USD. But, there can be exceptions.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to hire the services of an independent or nonprofit auditor, you can always browse through the web and find an agency like “Ageras” that offers you with non-binding quotes of some of the leading audit professionals and firms near you. In this way, it helps in maintaining a clean and transparent financial record for your organization or charitable trust that is looking forward to getting more funds, investments and donations.