Compile Table Attestation For Free

Conclusion. Audits, reviews and compilations are three very different levels of attestation services available for financial statements, and the information provided above will help you understand the differences and determine which one is appropriate for your business.

One of the things to keep in mind to differentiate each of these services is that audits are performed to discover data, risks, or compliance issues that may not have been known before the audit took place, and attestation is to evaluate and review how true the data or information is when compared to a stated purpose,

The attestation standards establish requirements for performing and reporting on examination, review, and agreed-upon procedures engagements that enable practitioners to report on subject matter other than historical financial statements.

An attest engagement is one in which a CPA in public practice (i.e., practitioner) is engaged to, or does, issue an examination/audit, review, compilation or agreed-upon procedures report on subject matter, or an assertion about subject matter, that is the responsibility of another party (usually management).

Attestation relates to the integrity of the data or information analyzed when compared to the standard or purpose of the assignment. Assurance services are provided to substantiate the data analyzed.

Although a compilation is not an assurance engagement, it is an attest engagement.

An attest service, or attestation service, is an independent review of a company's financial statement conducted by a certified public accountant (CPA). The CPA delivers an attestation report with conclusions about the reliability of the data.