Agreed-Upon Procedures
When you need a specific question answered by an independent accountant rather than a full audit, an agreed-upon procedures engagement applies the procedures agreed with you and reports the findings — no opinion, no conclusion, no cost beyond the question asked.
Standards we apply
When agreed-upon procedures fit
How an AUP engagement works
A process built on dates, not hope
Identify the question
What does the lender, buyer, franchisor or grantor actually need verified? That question defines the engagement.
Agree the procedures
Drafted with the engaging party. Under SSAE No. 19 they may be set before we start or developed as the work progresses — the engaging party acknowledges their appropriateness before the report is issued.
Perform the procedures
Exactly as agreed, documented as performed.
Report the findings
A findings-based report issued on the agreed date, for general use or restricted use as the engagement requires.
We plan backward from your deadline
Filing dates, plan-year deadlines and board meetings do not move. Neither does our schedule. Every engagement starts with a written timeline built backward from your date, and we hold the milestones we commit to.
If we prepare it, we cannot audit it
Independence rules do not allow a firm to audit financial statements it prepared. If JV CPA performs your accounting or financial statement preparation, your audit must be performed by a different firm — and we will say so at the first conversation, not the fourth.
Choosing which role we take early is faster and far less expensive than unwinding it later.
Questions we get asked
Is an AUP report an audit?
No. We express no opinion and no conclusion. We report factual findings from procedures that you and the other specified parties agreed to in advance. That is what makes the engagement fast and narrow.
Which standard governs this engagement?
AT-C Section 215, Agreed-Upon Procedures Engagements, as amended by SSAE No. 19. The AT-C sections are the AICPA’s codified attestation standards, issued by the Auditing Standards Board. SSAE No. 19 applies to agreed-upon procedures reports dated on or after July 15, 2021.
Can procedures be developed after the engagement starts?
Yes. SSAE No. 19 removed the requirement that all procedures be agreed before work begins — they can be developed as the engagement progresses, so long as the engaging party acknowledges their appropriateness before we issue the report. In practice this matters when the first round of results changes what is worth testing.
Who can rely on the report?
SSAE No. 19 permits a general use report, which was not the case under the prior standard. Where the circumstances call for it, we still issue a restricted use report. We settle which applies when we scope the engagement.
Do you need an assertion from management?
No. SSAE No. 19 removed the requirement to request a written assertion from the responsible party, which is one of the reasons these engagements move faster than they used to.
Can an AUP substitute for the audit our lender wants?
Sometimes, and it is worth asking. Lenders occasionally accept targeted procedures where a full audit was the opening request. We will help you put that question to them.
Have a specific question that needs an independent answer?
Send us the request from your lender, buyer or grantor. We will tell you whether agreed-upon procedures fit or whether you need something else.
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