From time to time, almost every organization — whether publicly-owned, privately-held, or not-for profit — needs to report how the organization is doing financially or provide assurance on some financial or non-financial data to third parties.

As the name implies, “assurance” services should provide reassurance about the quality of information being used.  These reports help investors and creditors evaluate the business and help owners and management make strategic business decisions. The most common type of assurance services relate to reporting on historical financial statements based on different levels of assurance, which includes audits — the highest level of assurance; reviews — limited assurance; and, compilations — no assurance.   These assurance services may also be provided for financial and non-financial data other than historical financial statements.

An organization may have assurance needs that do not require an audit or a review of financial statements, but do require assurance on some financial or non-financial data.  Agreed upon procedures may be performed on the relevant data and the results reported to meet assurance requirements.

Padgett Stratemann’s assurance team has provided assurance and attest services for its clients on a broad range of financial and non-financial data since 1945.