Grant Bennett Associates

Financial statement audits for underwritten title companies

Grant Bennett Associates, with offices in Rancho Cordova and Oakland, California, is a regional accounting practice serving the Sacramento and Bay Area market. A specialty it places at the center of its audit work is the financial statement audit of title and settlement companies underwritten under ALTA Best Practices. The firm says such companies handle large volumes of escrow funds, several trust accounts, complex reconciliations and underwriter reporting, along with state-specific rules. An audit of them therefore needs knowledge of escrow and trust accounting as well as of general audit standards.

The audit work covers cash and operating accounts, escrow and trust accounts, revenue recognition, the relationship with underwriters, receivables and payables, and internal controls. The firm also explains that state compliance is not one-size-fits-all, and it describes how a client can prepare for a state or underwriter examination. Three-way escrow reconciliations receive their own treatment in its guidance.

Tax work for businesses and individuals

For companies the firm offers tax planning and preparation, and for individuals it provides the same kind of planning and filing service. Its tax work sits alongside its accounting services, so the team that prepares the books can also work through the tax consequences of a business decision.

Bookkeeping, valuation and succession planning

Routine accounting help takes the form of bookkeeping and write-up work for businesses that need their records kept in good order. The firm also provides business valuation and peer review services, and it lists elder care accounting and financial forecasts and projections among its other work. Its succession planning help covers the ownership transfer options open to a business, including employee stock ownership plans, and it has published guidance on retirement plans for small businesses.

A team that treats its work as a shared effort

The firm describes its people as its greatest asset. It says it aims to create a fun, positive, team-based workplace in which staff can deliver careful work for each client. Clients come from businesses, individuals and California underwritten title companies, and the audit of those title companies is the firm's distinctive specialty, an area where it argues a general audit approach is not enough.