Audit Services

No. Non-profits and registered charities are welcome to explore the program and determine whether it’s a good fit before making any commitment. If you choose to proceed with an audit through our program, Federation membership is required, and the applicable annual membership fee will be added to the cost of your audit.

No. Due to the popularity of the program and limited auditor availability for certain year-ends, we cannot garuntee services for all eligible organizations. We encouraage you to request a quote as early as possible.

For each organization, we create a personalized price estimate that will include GST. We do our best to adhere to the estimated audit fee. Some reasons your estimated audit fee may increase, or decrease are:

• Your organization has had significant changes to its operations, like a capital build;

• Increased number of restricted grants;

• New programs or services;

• Delays in getting the appropriate documentation to the audit team.

 Your auditor will notify you if there will be additional costs as they work through the file.

On average, we estimate that groups save between 10-50% on audit services through our program. Additionally, community associations and social recreation groups may be eligible for a further subsidy.

Yes. Thanks to our partners at The City of Calgary, we are able to offer a subsidy to social recreation groups and community associations within city limits. We will determine your organization’s eligibility for this subsidy as part of our quote.

Here are a few ideas:

• Increase your financial literacy. Take our financial literacy workshops on bookkeeping and audit preparation.
• Reconcile your accounts. Reconcile all accounts before scheduling an audit.
• Provide all requested information. Include requested documents at the start of your audit. If your auditor requests more information, provide those documents within 24 hours.
• Hire a competent professional bookkeeper. Non-profit accounting is different than regular accounting. It’s important for you to hire a bookkeeper who knows non-profit accounting standards. Hiring a competent accountant helps reduce your risk of errors in your financials.
• Be honest and transparent. Do you suspect financial mishandling? Did you recently hire a new accountant or board treasurer? Tell your auditor any concerns you may have, and be up-front with your answers.
• Implement the auditor’s recommendations from the pervious year’s audit. In last year’s audit letter, your auditor likely made recommendations on how you could improve your bookkeeping. By implementing their recommendations, you can decrease the cost of next year’s audit.
• Keep all your source documents organized. Help the audit team find the documents they need by organizing your documents. Cloud-based accounting software, like Quickbooks, can help with this, if used correctly.

We ask that you allow 6 – 8 weeks to complete your audit. We schedule audits to meet your board meeting and AGM deadlines. 

Please note that an audit may take more or less time depending on the time of year. Some months are busier than others (particularly March, June, August, and December), and because non-profit auditing is a specialized field, we are unable to hire temporary staff during these busy periods. 

Our auditors are Chartered Professional Accountants with independent licensed public practices, who specialize in the not-for-profit sector.