Agreed-Upon Procedures — Targeted Examination, Factual Findings

What This Delivers

Factual findings on the exact questions that matter to your stakeholders

Sometimes the question isn't broad. A board wants to know whether vendor payments followed approved procedures. A lender wants confirmation of inventory counts. A partner wants verification of expense report accuracy over a defined period.

Agreed-upon procedures are designed for precisely these situations. We perform the specific procedures your stakeholders define — and deliver a factual report of what we found. No overall opinion on the financial statements. No broader examination than what's been scoped. Just clear, documented findings on the questions asked.

Defined Scope

Procedures are agreed in advance with your stakeholders. Nothing falls outside what's been defined and accepted.

Factual Findings

We report what the procedures revealed — factually and without an overall opinion attached. Stakeholders draw their own conclusions.

Proportionate Cost

Because the scope is narrow and defined, the engagement is typically faster and less resource-intensive than a full audit.

The Challenge You're Facing

When you need answers to specific questions, not a complete examination

Not every assurance need requires a full audit. A full external audit is designed to support an opinion on financial statements as a whole — it's thorough, structured, and takes time. For many situations, that level of breadth is more than what's actually needed.

Perhaps a contract with a partner requires periodic verification of specific figures. Perhaps a board wants confirmation that a particular process — vendor approvals, for example, or expense reimbursements — has been followed correctly over the past quarter. Perhaps a lender needs factual confirmation of inventory levels before releasing funds.

In each of these cases, a narrow, well-defined engagement serves the purpose more directly — and more efficiently — than a broad examination. Agreed-upon procedures are designed for exactly that.

Common Applications

Verifying that vendor payments followed approved procedures over a defined period

Testing expense report accuracy against policy for a selected sample

Confirming inventory counts at a specific location or date

Confirming that specific account balances agree to supporting records

Verifying compliance with specific contractual or regulatory requirements

Our Approach

Procedures defined by your stakeholders, performed with care

The structure of an agreed-upon procedures engagement is straightforward. What distinguishes it from other assurance services is the level of specificity — and the discipline of staying within what's been agreed.

01

Procedures are defined together with your stakeholders

Before any work begins, the specific procedures to be performed are documented and agreed upon by all parties. This includes the relevant stakeholders who will receive and rely on the findings report. The agreed procedures become the fixed scope of the engagement.

02

Procedures are performed systematically

We carry out each procedure as defined — examining records, tracing figures, comparing data, or confirming counts as specified. The work is documented thoroughly so the basis for each finding is traceable.

03

A factual findings report is delivered

The report describes each procedure performed and what it found — factually, without an overall opinion attached. Stakeholders receive the findings and draw their own conclusions from what's been documented.

An important distinction

Unlike a full audit, an agreed-upon procedures engagement does not result in an overall opinion on financial statements. It reports factual findings on the specific procedures performed. This distinction matters — and it's worth understanding before deciding whether this service or a full external audit is more appropriate for your situation. We're glad to discuss the difference during an initial conversation.

Working Together

A focused engagement — efficient by design

Because the scope of an agreed-upon procedures engagement is narrow and defined in advance, the process tends to be more contained than a full audit. Your team knows exactly what's being looked at, and the work moves directly toward the defined deliverable.

Scoping is collaborative

We work with you and the relevant stakeholders to draft the specific procedures before any fieldwork begins. If a proposed procedure isn't achievable within the available records, we'll identify that early.

Targeted document requests

We ask only for the records directly relevant to the agreed procedures — not broad documentation requests that draw on staff time unnecessarily.

Scope stays fixed

We perform what was agreed. If something surfaces during the work that warrants additional procedures, we bring it to you — but we don't expand scope without discussion and agreement from all parties.

Report delivered promptly

Because the scope is defined and contained, the findings report is typically delivered more quickly than a broader assurance engagement. We aim to meet the timeline confirmed during scoping.

Agreed-upon procedures work best when the questions being asked are clear. The more precisely the procedures can be defined at the outset, the more directly useful the findings report will be for the stakeholders relying on it.

— Fiscora Practice Note

Investment

Transparent pricing for this engagement

Because agreed-upon procedures engagements vary significantly in the number and complexity of procedures, the starting figure below reflects a focused engagement with a limited set of defined procedures.

Starting Investment

$2,000 USD

Final fee is confirmed following the scoping conversation and reflects the number and nature of procedures agreed. All fees are documented in a written engagement letter before work begins.

What's Included

Collaborative scoping to define and agree on the specific procedures with all relevant parties

Performance of the agreed procedures with full documentation of evidence

Written factual findings report describing each procedure and its result

Findings distributed to the agreed stakeholders as defined in the engagement scope

Scope and pricing: Engagements with a larger number of procedures, wider account coverage, or more complex testing requirements are priced accordingly. This is confirmed transparently during the scoping conversation — before any commitment is made.

Methodology & Results

What makes this engagement effective

The value of an agreed-upon procedures report rests entirely on how clearly the procedures were defined and how rigorously they were performed. Both matter equally.

Procedure Clarity

Procedures that are vaguely worded produce findings that are difficult to interpret. We work carefully during scoping to ensure each procedure is specific and achievable — so the findings report is actually useful to the stakeholders receiving it.

Evidence Documentation

Each finding in the report is traceable to documented evidence gathered during the engagement. The basis for what we found — and what we didn't find — is recorded in sufficient detail to support the conclusions stated.

Realistic Timeline

Focused agreed-upon procedures engagements typically complete within 2 to 4 weeks from the start of fieldwork, depending on the number of procedures and access to required records. The timeline is confirmed during scoping.

No Scope Drift

We perform exactly what was agreed. The discipline of staying within the defined scope is what allows the findings to be reported to all agreed stakeholders — and what keeps the engagement proportionate in effort and cost.

We're sometimes asked whether agreed-upon procedures are appropriate for a given situation — or whether a different service would serve better. We're glad to discuss that honestly during an initial conversation, and we'll tell you if we think a different approach makes more sense.

— Fiscora Practice Statement

Our Commitment

What you can count on from us

Agreed-upon procedures depend on discipline — staying within what's been defined, reporting only what was found, and being clear about what the findings do and don't say. That's what we commit to.

Procedures documented and agreed before work begins

The engagement letter sets out the agreed procedures in full. There are no additions to scope during the engagement without formal agreement from all parties involved.

Findings reported factually — not shaped toward an outcome

The report describes what we found when we performed each procedure. We don't adjust findings to produce a preferred result, and we don't omit observations that are inconvenient.

A conversation first — no obligation to proceed

We're glad to discuss your situation and help you think through whether agreed-upon procedures are the right fit — or whether a different service would serve the need better. That conversation comes before any commitment.

Getting Started

A clear path from question to findings

The most useful thing you can do before reaching out is to think about the specific question — or questions — your stakeholders need answered. Even a rough articulation of the need is enough to start a useful conversation.

Step 01

Describe your situation

Use the contact form to describe what you're looking to have examined and who the relevant stakeholders are. A few sentences is plenty to start.

Step 02

Define the procedures together

We schedule a conversation to work through the specific procedures with you and the relevant parties. We help translate a general question into procedures that are achievable and clearly worded.

Step 03

Engagement confirmed in writing

The agreed procedures, deliverable, timeline, and fee are all documented before work begins. The findings report goes only to the stakeholders named in the engagement letter.

Agreed-Upon Procedures

Have a specific question that needs a documented answer?

Get in touch and describe what you're looking to have examined. We'll discuss whether agreed-upon procedures are the right approach and what the process would look like.

Get in Touch

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