Audit & Assurance
Nonprofits are only part of the practice. Closely held and privately owned businesses come to us for the same reason they do: an audit from a firm that does audits for a living.
Goldenthal & Suss Consulting P.C. audits the financial statements of for-profit businesses — closely held companies, family-owned and founder-led businesses, real estate and construction firms, distributors, and professional practices — across the New York–New Jersey metro region. Audits are performed under generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) and result in an independent opinion on whether the financial statements are fairly presented under U.S. GAAP or another applicable framework. Businesses most often need one because a lender, investor, surety, landlord, buyer, or regulator requires it.
No federal law requires a private company to be audited. The requirement almost always comes from a contract: a loan agreement or line of credit with a financial-reporting covenant, a surety that bonds the company's contracts, an outside investor or minority owner, a franchisor or landlord, or a buyer conducting due diligence ahead of a sale.
That matters because the contract defines what you actually need. Many covenants accept a review rather than an audit below a certain loan size, and some specify the deadline, the framework, or supplementary schedules. We read the requirement before we quote the work.
We plan around the areas where a business's statements are most likely to be wrong: revenue recognition and cutoff, inventory existence and costing, receivables collectability, work-in-progress on long-term contracts, related-party transactions, and the accounting for leases and debt. Fieldwork includes testing balances, confirming cash, receivables and debt directly with third parties, observing inventory where it is material, and understanding the controls that touch the numbers.
The engagement ends with the audit report, the financial statements and notes, and a letter to management and the owners covering control observations worth acting on.
A company audited for the first time faces a problem it will not face again: opening balances. The auditor has to get comfortable with the balance sheet the year starts with, including inventory that was never observed and equity accounts that may not have been reconciled in years. Planning for that early is the difference between a first audit that costs a little more and one that stalls.
Owners preparing for a sale or a recapitalization often benefit from audited statements well before a buyer asks — one or two audited years make due diligence faster and support the valuation the seller is asking for.
Generally no — there is no general federal requirement for a privately held company to be audited. The requirement usually comes from a lender's covenant, a surety, investors or minority owners, a franchise or lease agreement, or a buyer. Read the specific agreement: many accept a review instead of an audit, and some specify the reporting framework and deadline.
Often, yes. Financial statements can be prepared and audited under a special-purpose framework such as the income-tax basis or cash basis, which is usually simpler and less expensive than full U.S. GAAP. Whether it is acceptable depends on the users — some lenders and investors require GAAP. Check the agreement before choosing.
Our for-profit audit practice serves privately held companies, whose audits are performed under AICPA auditing standards. Audits of SEC registrants are governed by separate PCAOB standards and registration requirements.
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
