The material in this note is drawn from “Chartered Professional Accountants Canada: A Guide to Financial Statements of Not-For-Profit Organizations” published by the Chartered Professional Accountant: Canada. The full document is included in the document package for this meeting.
A Three-Way Arrangement
Responsibility for an organization’s financial reporting is shared among three parties—management, the board and the external auditor—as follows:
- Management, which is responsible for preparing financial reports;
- The board, which is responsible for overseeing management and its financial reporting pro- cesses and satisfying itself as to the appropriateness of financial reports for those outside the organization; and
- The auditor, who is responsible for making an independent assessment of the financial statements, and giving a professional opinion on whether they give a fair presentation of the organization’s financial position and results of operations.
Each party relies on the work of the other two in discharging its own responsibilities. Each one brings a unique perspective to the preparation of financial reports:
- Management has an intimate understanding of the organization’s activities and plans; management also exercises judgment on how certain items are accounted for in the financial reports;
- The board offers a high-level, strategic view of the organization, coupled with due diligence duties with respect to internal policies, procedures and processes, and an accountability to external stakeholders; and
- The auditor brings a different level of financial expertise that may not exist within the organization; more importantly, the auditor brings an outside, independent perspective on the organization’s financial affairs.
A significant underpinning of external financial reporting is that the information be credible. Users must have a strong level of assurance that financial information is a fair presentation of the organization’s affairs. The annual audited financial statements provide a key measure of accountability and control for not-for-profit organizations. The auditor, with a mandate to directly inspect the books and records of the organization, provides an important check on the presentation of financial information by management.
The choice of the auditor and the reporting relationship for the auditor are therefore key considerations. The board selects the auditor and recommends the appointment of the auditor for approval of the organization’s members at the Annual General Meeting. Governance best practices for not-for-profit organizations dictate that the auditor reports directly to a committee of the board (in some organizations, directly to the board). The auditor is also expected as a matter of best practices to meet in camera with the board committee (or the board as a whole), without management present.
When Reviewing and Approving the Year-End Audited Financial Statements
The audit offers a key measure of accountability and control for not-for-profit organizations. The auditor, with a mandate to directly review the books and records of the organization, provides an important check on the activities of management.
Very simply put, an auditor reviews what an organization’s finance staff creates. This checking is referred to as ‘gathering audit evidence’, which means that auditors look for evidence that the accounting information audited is correct. This “audit trail” may be well documented within organizations.
The auditor will also assess internal controls and procedures in the organization, to the extent that this might impact the assessment of the validity of information recorded in the accounts.
In very small organizations, controls and procedures may be extremely limited due to lack of formal systems and limited resources available to implement them. On the other hand, in a very large organization, there might be extensive documentation of accounting policies and procedures, the use of computer systems and internal controls. If these systems are determined to be strong and well-functioning, the auditor might be able to reduce the other evidence needed to be gathered to form the audit opinion.
The auditor will also analyze much of the information in the accounts to see whether it is consistent with the organization’s activities. Finally, the auditor will look at the financial statements and the accounting policies used by the organization.
In view of all the information the auditor has gathered about the organization, and with all of the auditor’s professional experience, the key question the auditor will answer is: Do the financial statements paint a picture that is a fair presentation of the organization’s financial position and results of operations? At the end of the auditor’s engagement, the auditor communicates that opinion to financial statement users through the auditor’s report.
The report contains both the audited financial statements with accompanying notes and the auditor’s opinion. The notes provide additional important information that supports certain figures in the audited statements. Notes are often essential to clarify or further explain the items in the financial statements. They have the same significance as if the information or explanations were set out in the body of the statements themselves. The opinion can be unqualified or qualified, the latter situation most often due to the auditor’s inability to verify cash donations.
When reviewing the draft audited statements, directors may wish to consider these questions of the auditor:
- Did the auditor initiate any significant changes to management’s year-end financial information prior to issuance of the audit opinion and approval of the financial statements? (In the language of accountants, did the auditor require significant adjustments through “journal entries” to the statements originally prepared by management?)
- Did the auditor find any weaknesses in internal controls or accounting policies?
- Did the auditor have any concerns about the activities of the organization that have impacted on the financial results?
- Did management make significant estimates in the financial statements and did the auditor have any concerns about them?
- Were there any issues that might have caused the auditor to issue a qualified report?
- Was there an in camera meeting with the auditor (without management present) and an in camera meeting with management (without the auditor present)?
Once satisfied with the audited financial statements, the board will approve them and make them available for wider distribution.