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Outside Auditors

Outside auditors are third party CPAs and accountants who review a company's financial statements for accuracy and then provide a statement describing what they found and what documents or procedures were not in compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

When an auditor identifies a misstatement resulting from fraud or suspected fraud, the auditor should communicate that information to management, those charged with governance and, in some circumstances, to regulatory and enforcement authorities.  If the outside auditor concludes that any noncompliance with GAAP has a material effect on the financial statements and this has not been properly reflected in the financial statements, the auditors should express either a qualified or an adverse opinion.

An auditor should express a qualified opinion when it concludes that an unqualified opinion cannot be expressed, but that the disagreement with management or limitation on scope of this audit was not so material as to require an adverse opinion or a disclaimer of opinion.  Whenever an auditor expresses an opinion other than unqualified, an explanation of the reasons should be included in the report.

Copyright 2011 by Michael C. Dennis.  All Rights Reserved