Sometimes your assurance needs don’t require the rigors and expense of an audit or even a review engagement. In such cases, a carefully structured Agreed-upon Procedures (AUP) engagement may be the perfect alternative. Under certain circumstances the AUP engagement can be a better and more effective and practical choice.
While we apply the same professional standards to AUP engagements as we do our audit and review engagements, AUP engagements are far less involved and can yield valuable information about specific matters that may not be possible with an audit or review engagement.
In an AUP engagement, we first identify the specific areas of interest or types of information that are most critical to the parties’ assurance objectives. We then work together with the parties to design procedures to yield results about the specific information or areas of focus identified. These results are summarized in a written report that clearly indicates what was done and what resulted from the procedures performed.
AUP engagements can be designed to report on a variety of areas of focus, such as:
- Accounts receivable and payable balances and processes
- Income tax provisions
- Cash balances
- Inventories
- Franchise agreement compliance
- Royalty agreements
- Business acquisition due-diligence
- Investment balances
- Internal control elements
- Payroll processes
- Contract covenant compliance
The AUP engagement is becoming more widely employed as a means of providing assurance about specific matters of interest. Those who use it appreciate its targeted approach to providing more useful information about critical issues. We invite you to contact us to explore how an AUP engagement may address your assurance needs.