I am involved in several stratas and not once was impressed by what an auditor found.
He/she may be in the pocket of the strata manager or the pocket of the committee or may truly be “independent”,
but ALL auditors that I encountered did little more than sample a few invoices and follow them up in the strata’s books. They then penned an “opinion” that a first year accounting student could do.
I suggest a cheaper and more effective means to sniff out “accounting irregularities”:
Ask the strata mgr for a provide you with ALL invoices, say for the 2023-24 financial year, sorted out by payee in date order and ensuring the following details are listed on (or attached to) each invoice:
Name of Payee:
Payee’s ABN:
Payee’s contact details:
Reason for pmt:
Pmt made (date):
Quality of work performed (as determined by a committee member or strata mgr):
Pmt approved by:
Your job: to ensure that every invoice includes at least the above details. List those that fall short.
What I found in the past were that some strata managers had to be instructed to ensure financial documents made sense, were detailed and were unambiguous. Of course, whether the scant details offered owners were decided by the strata mgr or the committee is hard to tell.