Goldenthal & Suss

Advisory

Accounting Policy Development

An undocumented process is only as reliable as the person who happens to remember it.

Goldenthal & Suss Consulting P.C. develops written accounting policies and procedures for businesses, nonprofits, and government entities. Policies typically cover revenue recognition, capitalization and depreciation, expense allocation, closing and reconciliation, approvals and spending authority, and record retention. For organizations with federal awards, the firm drafts the written procedures the Uniform Guidance requires — including procurement, allowable costs, payments, and compensation — that single auditors test.

Deliverable
Written policies and procedures manual
Covers
Revenue, capitalization, allocation, close, approvals
Federal awards
Uniform Guidance written procedures
Clients
Businesses, nonprofits, government entities
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Why it matters

Written policies make accounting consistent from year to year and person to person. They shorten training when staff turn over, give auditors something to test against, and protect the organization when a long-time bookkeeper leaves. For businesses growing past the founder's direct oversight, a policies manual is often the first real step from informal to institutional finance.

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Federal award policies

Organizations that receive federal awards must have written procedures in several areas, including procurement, determining allowable costs, cash management, and compensation and travel. A missing or generic procurement policy is one of the most frequent single audit findings, and one of the easiest to prevent. We draft policies that match how the organization actually operates, so they can be followed and tested rather than adopted and ignored.

What this engagement covers

  • Accounting policies and procedures manuals
  • Capitalization and depreciation policies
  • Revenue recognition and cutoff policies
  • Indirect cost and expense allocation methods
  • Approval matrices and spending authority
  • Uniform Guidance procurement and allowable cost procedures
  • Record retention policies

Frequently asked

Which written policies does the Uniform Guidance require?

Non-federal entities must maintain written procedures for, among other areas, procurement, determining the allowability of costs, payment and cash management, and compensation and travel. Auditors performing a single audit look for these policies and test whether they are followed.

We are a small business. Do we really need written policies?

A short set of written policies — capitalization threshold, approval authority, month-end close checklist, and revenue cutoff — is valuable at almost any size. It becomes essential when a lender or investor requires audited statements, or when the owner is no longer personally reviewing every transaction.

Can our auditor write our policies?

An auditor can advise on policies, but management must make the decisions and adopt the policies as its own. Where we are the auditor, we limit our role accordingly; where we are not, we can draft the full manual.

Sources & review
Written-procedure requirements in 2 CFR 200 (e.g., 200.318 procurement, 200.302 financial management, 200.305 payment). Reviewed 2026-10-01. Thresholds and deadlines change — confirm current requirements before relying on them.

Request a proposal.

Tell us about your organization and the deadline you are working toward. We will tell you what the engagement involves and what it costs.

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Staten Island, NY · Freehold, NJ
(718) 227-6035