MSI Tax, Accounting and Finance Details Its Nonprofit Audit Support Ahead of Year End
The Bay Area and Carmel accounting practice describes what it does for nonprofits before, during and after an audit, and how that work sits alongside an organization's existing CPA, auditor and attorney.
ALAMEDA, Calif. MSI Tax, Accounting and Finance, a boutique accounting practice with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and Carmel, California, has set out on its website how its nonprofit audit support service works: what the firm does before, during and after an audit, and how it sits alongside a nonprofit's existing CPA, auditor and attorney.
The service is built for nonprofits with an audit in front of them, where the accounting is genuinely complicated and there is no full finance department to absorb it: several funding streams, restricted funds, payroll spanning programs, grants or a union agreement, and books that are behind.
Before the audit, the work is cleanup: reconciling the accounts, correcting the coding and closing the year properly. The firm's guidance is to start as soon as the fiscal year closes, and earlier if the books are behind, since most of the pain comes from rebuilding a year of records in the weeks before fieldwork. Where a date is set, MSI works backwards from it.
For the audit, MSI assembles the file: a trial balance, reconciliations for every bank and investment account, contribution and grant documentation, restricted fund activity and release schedules, payroll records and allocations, board minutes, and support for significant journal entries. It answers the auditors' requests so staff keep running the organization.
After the audit closes, the organization chooses. Some take the cleaned up books and carry on. Others keep MSI on as an outsourced accounting and finance department: monthly close, payroll, grant reporting and the controls that make the next audit a scheduled event rather than an emergency. Most start with the audit project and decide about the second once the pressure is off.
MSI does not issue the audit opinion, which comes from an independent audit firm, since independence rules generally prevent the auditor from also keeping the books. It does not give legal opinions, which stay with the attorney, and it does not argue with the auditor. It works on the organization's side of the table: it prepares the file, answers the requests and documents the positions taken. An existing bookkeeper or controller stays unless the organization wants otherwise.
Engagements follow four steps, with the cost known before work starts: an inquiry through the website form, a 45 to 60 minute assessment call with the senior team, a written scope and price, and then a defined audit project or ongoing support. MSI takes on a limited number of audit projects at a time so each is properly staffed. The page also offers the firm's Nonprofit Audit FAQ, a PDF guide for nonprofit leaders, boards and finance teams.
Details are at https://www.myacnt.com/nonprofit-audit-support, https://www.myacnt.com and (831) 220-3113.
About MSI Tax, Accounting and Finance
MSI Tax, Accounting and Finance is a boutique accounting practice serving the San Francisco Bay Area and Carmel, California, with clients across the country. Led by Tax and Accounting Director Maria Struve, the firm is one firm for the whole back office: bookkeeping, payroll, tax preparation, financial reporting and controls, delivered as a single engagement. Every engagement begins with MSI's assessment, a structured review of how a client's financial world is wired and where the pressure points are, followed by a 30 day assessment period at no fee, delivered whether or not the client continues. Website: https://www.myacnt.com. Phone: (831) 220-3113. Contact: https://www.myacnt.com/contact.
The service is built for nonprofits with an audit in front of them, where the accounting is genuinely complicated and there is no full finance department to absorb it: several funding streams, restricted funds, payroll spanning programs, grants or a union agreement, and books that are behind.
Before the audit, the work is cleanup: reconciling the accounts, correcting the coding and closing the year properly. The firm's guidance is to start as soon as the fiscal year closes, and earlier if the books are behind, since most of the pain comes from rebuilding a year of records in the weeks before fieldwork. Where a date is set, MSI works backwards from it.
For the audit, MSI assembles the file: a trial balance, reconciliations for every bank and investment account, contribution and grant documentation, restricted fund activity and release schedules, payroll records and allocations, board minutes, and support for significant journal entries. It answers the auditors' requests so staff keep running the organization.
After the audit closes, the organization chooses. Some take the cleaned up books and carry on. Others keep MSI on as an outsourced accounting and finance department: monthly close, payroll, grant reporting and the controls that make the next audit a scheduled event rather than an emergency. Most start with the audit project and decide about the second once the pressure is off.
MSI does not issue the audit opinion, which comes from an independent audit firm, since independence rules generally prevent the auditor from also keeping the books. It does not give legal opinions, which stay with the attorney, and it does not argue with the auditor. It works on the organization's side of the table: it prepares the file, answers the requests and documents the positions taken. An existing bookkeeper or controller stays unless the organization wants otherwise.
Engagements follow four steps, with the cost known before work starts: an inquiry through the website form, a 45 to 60 minute assessment call with the senior team, a written scope and price, and then a defined audit project or ongoing support. MSI takes on a limited number of audit projects at a time so each is properly staffed. The page also offers the firm's Nonprofit Audit FAQ, a PDF guide for nonprofit leaders, boards and finance teams.
Details are at https://www.myacnt.com/nonprofit-audit-support, https://www.myacnt.com and (831) 220-3113.
About MSI Tax, Accounting and Finance
MSI Tax, Accounting and Finance is a boutique accounting practice serving the San Francisco Bay Area and Carmel, California, with clients across the country. Led by Tax and Accounting Director Maria Struve, the firm is one firm for the whole back office: bookkeeping, payroll, tax preparation, financial reporting and controls, delivered as a single engagement. Every engagement begins with MSI's assessment, a structured review of how a client's financial world is wired and where the pressure points are, followed by a 30 day assessment period at no fee, delivered whether or not the client continues. Website: https://www.myacnt.com. Phone: (831) 220-3113. Contact: https://www.myacnt.com/contact.
- Contact Email
- [email protected]
- Issued By
- MSI Tax, Accounting and Finance
- Phone
- (831) 220-3113
- Business Address
- Alameda, California
Carmel, California - Country
- United States
- Categories
- Accounting
- Last Updated
- September 4, 2026