Watter CPA provides audit and assurance services for businesses and nonprofit organizations across the Washington, DC metro area, including Rockville, Maryland. Established in 1988, the firm serves clients across technology, finance, real estate, construction, biotech, and other sectors.
Audited financial statements give stakeholders independent confirmation your numbers are accurate. Whether your business is preparing for a private sale or answering to lenders and investors, that confirmation carries real weight. When a review or compilation is not enough, a full audit is the standard.
An audit brings a certified accountant into your financial records. As an independent party, that accountant carries no stake in the outcome. This audit determines whether the financial statements are presented fairly, in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
The audit team does not work from summaries. They trace individual transactions back to source documents and confirm balances directly with banks and vendors. Audit procedures then target the areas where misstatements are most likely.
The audit concludes with a formal written opinion. This opinion answers one question: do the financial statements accurately mirror the company's financial position?
Not all services deliver the same level of assurance:
If a lender or investor needs certainty, a review does not answer that. An audit does.
The requirement comes from one of two places: a regulator or a contract. Entities registered with the SEC must file under disclosure rules. Private companies are not subject to the same mandate. For many businesses, audit requirements are set by their contracts, not by law.
What typically requires an audit:
Private companies with no such mandate may still benefit from one. Audited financial statements build trust with lenders, support negotiations with investors, and give management a clearer understanding of a company's financial performance.
Beyond external mandates, engagements are also triggered by M&A due diligence, shareholder disputes, or a founder wanting a second opinion on the numbers. Many businesses choose to pursue audits for these reasons, whether required or not.
Our audits follow a structured process and satisfy AICPA standards. Our accounting team coordinates with management to plan each audit, gather evidence from financial records, and produce a formal report. Our audit services are conducted with direct partner involvement from start to finish. Our services follow a fixed structure regardless of engagement size: planning, fieldwork, and a final report.
Every audit engagement begins by understanding your business: its operations, its controls, and the financial reporting areas that have the most weight. That picture shapes the audit approach. Understanding where errors are most likely to occur allows us to keep the audit engagement efficient.
A typical engagement runs 6 to 8 weeks, shorter when records are organized. Our team may recommend additional audit testing if specific risk areas warrant closer review.
Our team starts with accounting records and bank statements, then tests transactions at the source and confirms balances directly with banks, vendors, and other parties. This work provides the audit evidence we need to form a conclusion and may surface financial gaps that management was not previously aware of.
We issue a formal audit report presenting our opinion on your financial statements. The report delivers the assurance that lenders, investors, and stakeholders need when evaluating the company's financial results.
The cost of audited financial statements varies with the size of your business, the scope of work, and the condition of your accounting records. How much you ultimately pay depends on complexity, volume, and timing. Much of the cost stems from the depth of work involved, and much of that depends on the quality of your records at the start of the engagement.
Cost factors typically include:
The cost of these audits is higher than the cost of a review or compilation because the work is more extensive. That additional cost mirrors the depth of the engagement. In most cases, the cost is justified by lender or investor reporting requirements that specifically call for an audit.
Contact Watter CPA for a cost estimate based on your company's specific situation. Our services are scoped to the actual audit work involved. For companies with complex structures, we provide detailed fee information before any engagement begins.
SEC registrants must file under disclosure rules.
Your records remain confidential by default. You decide who receives copies, whether that is a bank, a private equity investor, or a potential buyer. This is standard for businesses that operate without mandatory disclosure requirements. Watter CPA maintains strict confidentiality over all financial information shared with our firm. For questions about our accounting services or which level of assurance fits your situation, contact our team.
The requirement usually comes from bank agreements, grant terms, investor conditions, or shareholder arrangements. The law rarely requires it. The contract usually does.
Organize your records before the engagement starts. Disorganized books do not just slow things down. They can change what the auditor finds. Auditors move as fast as the documents come. That is the only real lever.
The trigger is $750,000 in federal awards within a year. Nonprofits that cross that threshold are subject to a mandatory Single Audit. Many others face audit requirements through grant agreements, board governance policies, or lender terms, independent of the federal threshold.
These are not the same thing. A PCAOB audit costs four to five times a standard engagement. Many situations that appear to require one are satisfied by working with a PCAOB-enrolled firm. Watter CPA holds PCAOB enrollment.
Six to eight weeks is the realistic window for most financial statement audits. When records are organized from the start, it can close in as little as 4 weeks. Complex structures, multiple entities, or disorganized books are the main reasons timelines extend.
Our dedicated team is ready to assist you on your path to financial success.
5 N Adams St,
Rockville, MD 20850, United States
