The recent publication by the ICAEW gives a timely reminder of one of the procedures that we are pleased to be offering that we feel the fiduciary sector could use more of – Agreed-Upon-Procedures engagements. Its not sexy sounding and I’ll abbreviate it to AUP for the rest of this piece.
In our view, too often fiduciary operators move towards an “Audit or Nothing” approach as to whether the financial information of their clients needs some extra work done to make everyone comfortable that they are right. Everyone knows and understands what an audit is. A lot of the time its not what they really want though. They perhaps don’t care about what auditing standards require to be done on going concern or mapping out their systems and controls. All they want is …..an extra pair of eyes to make sure that in an independent persons view, the choices the trustee has made are in line with the letter of wishes…..that the investments alone are valued in a fair way that is suitable for the purposes in which they are used….. that the management fees are computed in line with the agreements and properly based on valid work being performed…. really any number of things.
In setti
ng out our business we wanted to be able to bring solutions that are actually designed to meet the needs the finance sector has. We’re happy to be offering such bespoke services to really deliver to the fiduciary sector independent professional opinions without all the bits that you don’t really care about.
Something to think about the next time you feel that you’d like some reassurance that the steps you are taking are the right ones rather than tripping you up further down the line.
More on bespoke assurance engagements will follow in due course.
