Audit and Assurance Services

Our firm has significant experience performing audit and assurance services for both non-profit and for-profit organizations.

We strive to provide a consistently high-quality work product. Our financial statements are some of the best in the profession because our partners learned from the best. We have passed all our peer reviews since our establishment in 1991. Additionally, our managing partner spent years performing peer reviews of other auditors and has served as chairman of the New England Peer Review Board.

While we are not the least expensive firm, as we know what it costs to produce quality work, neither are we the most expensive, as we understand the economic constraints of the region.

These are the three levels of assurance that we can provide, increasing in complexity and cost:

  • Compilation of statements with or without footnotes: This is the lowest level and the least expensive. No assurance is provided.
  • Review of financial statements that include footnotes: Provides limited assurance that statements are free from material misstatements and conform to GAAP
  • Audit of financial statements: the highest level of assurance. It offers a reasonable level of assurance that your financial statements are free from material misstatement and conform with GAAP.

Nonprofit Audits

Our firm specializes in audit and accounting work for local organizations, many of whom are non-profits. We have many years of experience auditing and reviewing non-profit entities and preparing 990 tax returns for a variety of non-profits and pride ourselves on our financial statement expertise.
EFS has substantial experience with the non-profit sector. Approximately 65% of our revenue is derived from services to non-profits, which range in size from small trade groups to the largest rural health center in the state.  We understand the challenges non-profit organizations face in today’s economy.

We specialize in auditing the following types of nonprofits:

  • Healthcare
  • Social Service Agencies
  • YMCAs
  • Domestic Violence Agencies
  • Nursing Homes
  • Land Trusts & Preservation
  • Churches
  • Trade Organizations
  • Unions
  • Arts Organizations

For Profit Audits

Banks and others generally prefer to have financial statements prepared by accounting firms rather than relying on internally generated statements.

Industry Specialties:

  • Healthcare
  • Construction
  • Retail
  • Real Estate
  • Wholesale
  • Franchises
  • Restaurants
  • Architecture
  • Nursing Homes
  • Manufacturing

Specialized Audits

Our firm’s level of expertise allows us to conduct very specialized audit engagements.

These include:

  • Governmental, Yellowbook, MAAP, and Uniform Guidance Compliance Audits:
    Many of our larger audit clients are required to have a compliance portion of their regular financial statement audit. We have many years of experience with MAAP reporting, Uniform Guidance Single Audits, and federal and state funding programs, including those of Rural Development, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Agriculture, Maine Department of Education, and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services
  • Agreed Upon Procedures:
    We provide a number of Agreed Upon Procedures (AUP) engagements, which is when a client will hire us to perform specific procedures and issue a report on our findings.  Because the nature of these specific procedures can vary widely, so too can the cost and involvement of an AUP engagement.  They can be as simple as checking to see if a client’s bank account is being reconciled correctly or as complex as spending several days performing a thorough review of all financial procedures.