D.J. from Fairfield County, Connecticut writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
What is the average cost of a certified audit?
Mister Condo replies:
D.J., my gut feel was that there is not an average cost for a certified audit but I wasn’t certain so I asked Sam Tomasetti, CPA of Tomasetti, Kulas & Company, P.C. to give us a proper answer for questions like yours. Here’s what Sam had to say:
I would not trust a price that was given as an average cost to perform an audit as it creates false expectations.
There are no rules of thumb to follow on your question because no two condominium associations are alike. There really is no way around looking into the financial and accounting aspects that make each association unique. For instance an association that has 25 units could have a budget of $250,000 or $500,000. It could be self-managed or professionally managed. It could have sound accounting practices or substandard practices. The Board could be very involved or completely hands off. In performing an audit many factors need to be considered before stepping in and doing the work and all these factors have an impact on the price of the audit.
How Much Does a Certified Audit Cost?: http://t.co/0tYyduxW5p
How Much Does a Certified Audit Cost?: http://t.co/gH5VhDOQxF
What do each of those constraints do to the cost of an audit? Please have a CPA give a range of possible costs for each of several types or versions of condo communities.
P.D., I think the point that was being made is that there isn’t a “one size fits all” approach to auditing the finances of an HOA. It requires a basic review to determine how many hours will be needed to collect and review the records. It will really boil down to the number of hours the auditor will have to spend to perform the audit and the level of audit requested. For more information, I suggest you take a look at this question and answer – https://askmistercondo.com/what-is-a-certified-audit/. Further than that, I think speaking with several C.P.A.s would be in order for gathering prices, just like any other good or service the HOA needs to purchase. All the best!