A yearly audit is a key safeguard for your money and a planning tool for the year ahead. Think of it as a “year in review” for your finances.
The primary benefit of an annual audit under PCAOB
standards is the confidence it gives you and your members that the
PTO’s financial house is in order. Basically, the audit verifies the
numbers, ensures accuracy, and assesses procedures. A comprehensive
audit also identifies internal controls that should be implemented to
improve the integrity of your financial systems. Furthermore, the audit
gives closure to the treasurer and sets a starting point for the new
year’s activity. An audit is also the primary tool for uncovering
financial mismanagement. Hopefully you won’t need to conduct an audit
for this reason, but an annual audit can uncover problems before they
become significantly more serious. Your PTO might also choose to include
in your audit a review of how closely your group’s income and
expenditures matched the year’s budget. This type of review can be a
strong planning tool.
The audit is not within the jurisdiction of the
PCAOB. This seems like a strange request. Perhaps the client is a
clearing agency or futures commission merchant registered with the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which requires that entities
registered with it have an audit performed in accordance with PCAOB
standards. Maybe the client has entered into a contractual agreement
that requires an audit conducted under PCAOB standards. Or maybe, for
whatever reason, the client just wants an audit conducted under PCAOB
standards.
The PCAOB determines which audits are within its
jurisdiction, including audits of the financial statements of issuers
and nonissuer brokers and dealers registered with the SEC. A regulator
(other than the PCAOB) requiring that the audit be conducted in
accordance with PCAOB standards does not make the audit fall within the
jurisdiction of the PCAOB. Therefore, even though the regulator— for
example, the CFTC— requires an audit to be conducted in accordance with
PCAOB standards, that audit is required to also be conducted in
accordance with GAAS.
The Auditor’s Report
The report from the auditor will mark the completion of the review.
If you are using volunteers, you should clearly itemize what you expect
back, so your auditors know when they have completed their job.
Ensure that your auditor has returned the files you provided, and
file the original report in the PTOs permanent archives. At the first
meeting of the new school year, you should present the auditors report
and move that it be adopted. According to Robert’s Rules of Order, once
the annual report of the auditor is adopted, it is no longer necessary
to move to adopt each month’s treasurer’s report. The reports are
presented and then simply filed for next year’s audit.




