I was just hired to to what appeared to be a simple audit. The prior year had under $200,000 in income and expenses.
But, the management was a bit hands off and the bookkeeping/accounting firm who had been doing the books for many years had grown fat, dumb and sloppy with the work.
The prior year had not been closed out so the information I initially received was incorrect. When I questioned why there were beginning balances for the income statement balances for January they were uncertain. When I suggested that was it possible that the prior year had not been closed out, they were not sure and would have to check. I was correct.
There were multiple duplicated entries, also the largest expense item was the bookkeeping/accounting firm. the that is even after removing all of the expenses from the invoices for copies, postage and the like.
Apparently there is also a lack of bank reconciliations, which I has been told didn’t completely reconcile.
Beware of whom you trust to do your work. Make sure that they have the capability and knowledge to do the work.