Review & Compilation Engagements

Not every business needs a full audit — but most need their financial statements to carry more weight than a print-out from the accounting software. RN Canada provides the two assurance tiers below an audit: limited-assurance review engagements and no-assurance compilation engagements. For Alberta and British Columbia owner-managers whose lenders and stakeholders do not require an audit, these are often the right-sized, cost-effective choice — enough credibility for the people relying on the statements, without the scope and expense of an audit they do not need.

The three levels of assurance

Canadian assurance work sits on a ladder, and choosing the right rung is the first decision:

• Audit — reasonable assurance. The highest level a practitioner provides. Through extensive procedures, the practitioner forms an opinion that the financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects. This is the most rigorous and most involved engagement.
• Review — limited assurance. A step down, expressed as a negative-form conclusion: based on procedures focused on inquiry and analysis, nothing has come to the practitioner's attention to suggest the statements are materially misstated. Less extensive than an audit, but still independent assurance that stakeholders can rely on.
• Compilation — no assurance. The practitioner assembles financial information provided by management into financial statement form, without verifying it or expressing any assurance. The report says so plainly. Many owners know this as the former Notice to Reader.

Where audit work itself is needed, that sits within our audit and assurance service; this page is about the review and compilation tiers beneath it.

What's included

• Review engagements. Limited-assurance reviews for businesses whose lenders, investors or shareholders want independent comfort without the cost of an audit.
• Compilation engagements. No-assurance compilations that present management's financial information in proper statement form, suitable where stakeholders do not require assurance.
• Tier guidance. Helping you read what your lender, investors or shareholders actually require, so you commission the level of assurance they need and no more.
• Standards-aligned reports. Engagements performed and reported in line with the applicable Canadian standards, so the report means what its readers expect it to mean.

How we work

We start with the question that drives everything else: what do the people relying on these statements actually require? A lender's covenant, a shareholders' agreement or an investor's expectation usually points clearly to a review or a compilation. We then perform the engagement to the relevant Canadian standard and issue a report whose wording and level of assurance match that standard exactly — because the value of a review or compilation lies in readers being able to trust precisely what it does and does not say.

We do not push a higher tier than your situation calls for. The point is the right level of assurance for your stakeholders, delivered properly.

Who it's for

This service fits Alberta and BC owner-managers whose bank or lender asks for reviewed or compiled statements rather than an audit; businesses with outside shareholders or investors who want independent comfort short of an audit; and companies that simply need properly presented financial statements for financing, planning or stakeholder reporting. It suits businesses for which a full audit would be more rigour — and more cost — than anyone relying on the statements actually requires.

How RN Canada helps

We help you confirm which level your stakeholders need, perform the review or compilation to the applicable Canadian standard, and issue a report that says exactly what it should. Where a full audit turns out to be required, we move that work into our audit and assurance service rather than stretch a review to do an audit's job.

General guidance on Canadian assurance and reporting standards is published by CPA Canada and FRAS Canada. Our founder, Ozgur Duymaz, holds a Ph.D. in accounting and finance and is a CPA (Canada), ACCA (UK) and CMA (US). To match the right assurance tier to your stakeholders, talk to us or browse the full services overview.

This page is general information, not personalized advice. Speak to us about your specific situation.