Annual Audit Support
ACI will facilitate the annual audit process in an effort to minimize the time a broker dealer’s internal management is diverted from their daily responsibilities.
All broker dealers that transact business with the investing public are required to obtain a certified audit to confirm the accuracy of their financial statements at year end. The annual audit must be conducted by an independent accounting firm under the jurisdiction of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The PCAOB regulates audit firms much like how FINRA regulates the broker dealer community. Increased scrutiny on auditors has directly impacted the time and effort required by broker dealers to provide the required documentation to fulfill their audit requirement.
Generally acting as the outsourced FinOp for our clients, ACI is not permitted to perform the annual audit function because of independence considerations. Our role is to minimize the amount of time internal management is diverted away from business operations and development. ACI works closely with many audit firms and will act as a liaison for our clients in this process. We will provide the auditors with financial statements, regulatory reports, third party verification statements and any other documentation that may be required to fulfill the audit obligation. ACI also assists in the formal submission of the annual audit reports, which are often filed with many different regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), National Futures Association (NFA), Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and the various states.
Our accountants regularly attend industry conferences that address changes in accounting policies and the audit process so we are best positioned to keep the audit costs of the broker dealer low and to ensure accuracy in all financial reporting.
Give us a call at 212-668-8700, or follow the contact form link below to learn more.