SSAE 19
What Are Agreed-Upon Procedures?
An SSAE 19 Agreed Upon Procedures (AUP) engagement is when a third-party auditor, like I.S. Partners, LLC, reviews a specific business procedure based on a predetermined standard. This objective analysis provides factual information to the management staff, helping them to make informed decisions for the organization.
COMPLIANCE UPDATE
Why Pursue AUP Engagements?
SSAE 19, issued by the AICPA Auditing Standards Board, provides practitioners with increased flexibility for agreed-upon procedures engagements compared to its predecessor, SSAE No. 18. This added flexibility may offer practitioners new engagement opportunities and enhance their ability to help clients with various types of transactions.
The new standard removes the need to request assertions from responsible parties, eliminates the required sufficiency responsibility of intended users, permits general-use reports, and allows practitioners to develop or help develop procedures during the engagement. Additionally, it includes new report disclosure requirements and aligns more closely with global standards.
ADVANTAGES
Benefits of AUP Engagements
Agreed-upon procedures can be required for many different financial and non-financial reasons. If you plan to buy another business, you may ask for an agreed-upon procedures engagement to determine certain monetary information. You may have agreed-upon procedures performed to check income tax revisions, employer compliance issues, review loan portfolios or verify accounts receivable processes.
This procedure can benefit your organization when you desire factual findings without any predetermined opinions. It allows your management to create their own opinions and conclusions based on factual findings. By having I.S. Partners, LLC perform the audit, you can be assured that the findings will not contain bias as you can obtain the information you requested.
VALUE
Trust I.S. Partners for Objective Advice
Your organization may be following business procedures that require factual and unbiased information so that your management staff understands how the procedure will affect operations. The required information can be used by your management staff to help determine the right course of action to take that helps your organization. To gather these findings, your business may request an agreed-upon procedure from a third-party auditor such as I.S. Partners, LLC. The agreed-upon procedure will be an outlined standard that our auditor will use to test and audit the procedure. With these findings, a report can be made that gives details of the audit results.
GET STARTED
Take the Anxiety Out of AUP Engagements
I.S. Partners, LLC will work with you to develop the agreed-upon procedures to be performed and the criteria to be used to determine findings. Based on your organization’s report parameters, we will execute the procedures and evaluate the subject matter. We will then provide a report with our collected factual findings to be presented to management. With these reports, you organization can then modify activities or perform new procedures that align with your organization’s objectives.