Auditing Services for Pittsburgh Businesses
Audits are under more scrutiny than ever. Federal oversight of the auditing profession has increased, documentation requirements have grown, and the risk associated with issuing an audit opinion has driven many accounting firms to stop offering audits altogether. Myers, Patsy & Associates is one of the firms that hasn’t backed away — our auditing services remain a core part of what we do, and our practice consistently earns unqualified peer review reports under the AICPA Peer Review Program.
What Our Consulting Services Include
Not every company needs the same level of assurance. Depending on your lender, investors, or board, you may need a compilation, a review, or a full audit — each represents a different level of verification and a different cost. Our auditing services are built to match the right level of assurance to your actual requirement, so you’re not paying for more scrutiny than the situation calls for.
Why Our Approach to Auditing Services Is Different
Audits are, by their nature, an added cost for any business. If you’re seeking a loan or maintaining a financing relationship with your bank, an audit — or at minimum a review — is often a requirement, not an option. We understand that reality, and we’ve seen firsthand how unnecessary audit procedures can drive up the cost of an engagement without adding real value.
That’s why every audit or review starts with proper planning. We focus our procedures on the areas of genuine audit risk and minimize the work in low-risk areas, keeping your cost as reasonable as possible while still meeting generally accepted auditing standards in full.
We also believe a well-performed audit should give you more than a signed opinion. We’re looking at your financial statements, but we’re also looking at your business — for ways to strengthen your financial position and tighten up your processes along the way. At the conclusion of every audit, we sit down with management to walk through our findings and recommendations, whether that means process improvements, operational observations, or ways to strengthen internal controls.
Our approach to auditing services is shaped by the same philosophy our founder, Joseph P. Myers, CPA, built the firm on: having sat on both sides of the table, we understand what business owners are concerned about going into an audit, and we design our approach to address those concerns while still meeting professional standards in full.
Our audit and assurance practice today is led by Kim Wetzel, CPA, who specializes in audits, reviews, and compilations for closely held businesses, local governments and agencies, and not-for-profit organizations — and who understands, from her own time as a controller managing multiple audits at once, exactly how much strain an audit can put on your staff and resources.
Our Auditing Services Process
We keep the process straightforward from the first conversation through the final report:
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Meet with one of our partners. New Audit relationships start with a face-to-face conversation. One of our partners will personally walk you through what's driving the need for an audit, review, or compilation — a bank requirement, an investor request, a grant condition, or something else — and what level of assurance actually applies to your situation.Step 1
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Plan the engagement Before any fieldwork begins, we plan the audit or review to focus on your genuine areas of risk, so time isn't wasted on low-risk areas that don't need heavy scrutiny.Step 2
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Perform the fieldwork We conduct the procedures required for your level of engagement, working around your team's schedule as much as possible to limit disruption to daily operations.Step 3
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Review findings together At the conclusion of the engagement, we sit down with your management team to walk through our findings and recommendations — process improvements, operational observations, or ways to strengthen internal controls — and deliver the finished report you need.Step 4
Industries We Serve
Our auditing services cover a wide range of industries, including:
Automobile Dealerships
Manufacturing
Retail and Wholesale
Real Estate
Construction
Not-for-Profits
Governmental Auditing
Mortgage Brokers and Settlement Companies
HUD-Regulated Entities
Common Questions About Our Auditing Services
It usually comes down to what your lender, investor, or board requires. Banks maintaining an ongoing financing relationship often accept a review, while new financing, larger loans, or outside investors typically call for a full audit. If you're not sure which applies to your situation, we're happy to walk through your specific financing or reporting requirement and tell you plainly which level of service fits.
Cost differences usually come down to planning. A well-planned audit focuses time on the areas of real risk in your financial statements and moves quickly through the low-risk areas. An audit that isn't planned carefully tends to apply the same level of scrutiny everywhere, which drives up hours and cost without adding assurance. That planning discipline is part of every engagement we take on.
Every audit requires some time from your team, but the disruption doesn't have to be significant. Because our audit lead has managed audits from the client side as a controller, our engagements are planned with an eye toward minimizing the strain on your office staff and day-to-day operations while still meeting professional standards in full.
We don't just hand you a signed opinion and move on. At the conclusion of every audit, we sit down with your management team to review our findings — process improvements, operational observations, or ways to strengthen internal controls — so the engagement leaves you with more than compliance.