From the CEO

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disclosures

vscpa.com/disclosures disclosures@vscpa.com

FALL 2021 Volume 34, No. 4

Managing Editor Jill Edmonds disclosures@vscpa.com

Editorial Task Force

Olaf Barthelmai, CPA Cheri David, CPA Melisa Galasso, CPA Genevieve Hancock, CPA Karen Helderman, CPA Harold Martin Jr., CPA Anthony Otaigbe, CPA David Peters, CPA Mark Plostock, CPA Zach Shoaf, CPA Barbara Sukramani, CPA

Disclosures is published four times a year by the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA). The magazine’s mission is to communicate information of value to VSCPA members, including professional issues and VSCPA initiatives. The materials and information in Disclosures are offered as material only and not as practice, financial, accounting, legal or other professional advice. Statements of fact and opinion are made by the authors alone and do not imply an opinion on the part of VSCPA officers, members or editorial staff. Publication of an advertisement in Disclosures does not constitute a VSCPA endorsement of the product or service. Copyright © 2021 Virginia Society of CPAs.

VSCPA Preferred Providers

Why single audits are such a hot topic

For the past several months we’ve

been communicating with you about single audits, which are becoming an increasingly important issue for CPAs and their clients. We’ve included information on single audits in several issues of The Account, and this Disclosures issue contains two features.

Why? Because it’s incredibly important that as thousands of companies embark on single audits for the first time due to federal COVID relief, CPA firms make certain they are providing the highestquality audit possible.

Many recipients of pandemic funding have never had a single audit before and may not know what is required. Your existing clients may need a single audit for the first time, or you may begin working with new clients who have never even had a financial statement audit.

It’s important to first talk to your clients about what kinds of federal funding they received and keep open your lines of communication. The rules for who qualifies for an audit or other administrative requirements can be tricky. (The American Institute of CPAs released a non-authoritative chart matrix to help untangle the requirements; find it at vscpa. com/audit-resources.)

Single audits have a significant public interest component as they involve taxpayer dollars and federal agencies rely on them as part of their administrative responsibilities for determining compliance with the requirements of federal awards. So, this makes single audits a great opportunity for the CPA profession to show the public its commitment to high-quality auditing work.

If you have never done one before, you may want to consider referring your clients to another person in your firm or outside firms with more experience. Single audits are complex and require specialized knowledge of rules and compliance requirements. If you need more education on the issue, we have several online learning options.

Finally, we are collecting information on CPAs and firms who have single audit expertise so we can develop a referral list for your use. If you complete single audits, please let us know by completing a quick survey at surveymonkey.com/r/ SingleAuditSurvey.

Find CPE, news, resources and more in our Audit Resource Center at vscpa.com/ audit-resources, and we will continue to keep you up to date as more information becomes available. n

Stephanie Peters, CAE, has served as VSCPA’s president and CEO since 2007.

speters@vscpa.com @StephPeters