Audit is not a side practice here. It is the discipline the firm is built around, and it is what our partners spend their time doing.
Goldenthal & Suss Consulting P.C. performs independent financial statement audits, reviews, compilations, and agreed-upon procedures for nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, healthcare providers, school districts, and housing authorities across the New York–New Jersey metro region. Engagements are conducted under generally accepted auditing standards and, where federal funding or government entities are involved, under Government Auditing Standards (the Yellow Book) and the Uniform Guidance. Every engagement is led by a licensed CPA who stays involved through fieldwork and reporting.
Not every organization needs an audit, and paying for one you do not need is a waste of restricted dollars. The three standard levels of service differ in how much assurance the CPA provides and how much work that takes.
Most organizations do not choose their service level freely. It is set by whichever of these binds first: state charitable-registration law, a funder or grant agreement, a lender or bond covenant, the organization's own bylaws, or federal award spending that triggers a single audit.
It is worth checking all of them before committing. We have seen organizations commission a full audit to satisfy one grantor when a review would have met every requirement that actually applied to them.
Planning starts with a risk assessment specific to your organization rather than a standard checklist — where the money comes from, which restrictions attach to it, and where the reporting is most likely to go wrong. Fieldwork follows, then a draft for management review, then presentation of the final report and management letter to the board or audit committee.
We schedule fieldwork against your close calendar and your funder deadlines, not ours.
An audit provides reasonable assurance and results in a formal opinion on the financial statements; the CPA tests balances, confirms items with third parties, and evaluates internal control. A review provides limited assurance based mainly on analytical procedures and inquiry, with no opinion and no testing of controls. A review typically costs substantially less, and for many smaller organizations it is all that law or funders actually require.
For a typical small-to-midsize nonprofit, expect a few weeks of fieldwork and several weeks between the start of planning and a final issued report, depending on how ready the accounting records are when we arrive. Organizations with a clean trial balance, reconciled bank accounts, and grant documentation already assembled move considerably faster.
Our two offices are in Staten Island, NY and Freehold, NJ, and most of our clients are in the New York–New Jersey metro region. We do take engagements outside the immediate area where the work fits our specialties, and multi-state compliance is a routine part of our practice.
Tell us about your organization and the deadline you are working toward. We will tell you what the engagement involves and what it costs.
Request a ProposalStaten Island, NY · Freehold, NJ
(718) 227-6035
