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Welcome To Collemi Consulting

& Advisory Services


Collemi Consulting & Advisory Services, LLC strives to promote and enhance audit quality to U.S. and international public accounting firms, private sector, litigation attorneys, valuation experts, standard-setters, regulators and other organizations that influence the public accounting profession.

Who We Are

Managing Member and Founder Salvatore A. Collemi, CPA has served as a former regulator, standard-setter, external auditor and technical partner at leading institutions such as the SEC, AICPA and several international public accounting firms. He has a keen understanding into the mindset of both

regulators and standard-setters.


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AND COST EFFICIENT PARTNER

Our Services


Mr. Collemi’s vast experience in the public accounting profession is key to providing high-level strategic and technical guidance to our clients when it matters the most – whether to retain their top attest clients, seeking to sell or buy a CPA firm, comply with standard-setters and regulators. With extensive industry experience and a solid network of contacts, we provide a full range of technical services, from U.S. & International accounting & auditing consultations to AICPA Peer Review & PCAOB inspection preparation to customized continuing professional education (CPE) training. Collemi Consulting is also widely known as a “go-to” source for emergency solutions, including lawsuits and unfavorable AICPA Peer Reviews and PCAOB Inspections.

Knowledge Blog


By Jennifer Ruf March 24, 2025
As audit season is in high gear, it’s important for auditors to step back and plan how they are going to audit a client’s books and records. What are the red flags you’re looking for when it comes time to throw open the books and look through a huge swath of journal entries to pluck out the ones that are questionable, and need to be questioned? First off, it’s important to understand how journal entries are created at the company being audited. For an auditor, that means looking at the internal control environment to understand how a journal entry is created: Who’s authorized to create one and who can create one. You have to understand the process. How does it start and how is the entry eventually recorded onto the financial reporting system? Once you know that, you can determine whether someone can come in and override the system, or if someone can pretend to be someone else and start recording journal entries onto the system. That will help you figure out what to look for to decide what entries to pull out and ask management to get back up information to support and validate those entries. Finding the needle The key here is not to just go through the mechanics, but to really go through the exercise so you can determine if management is playing games in the recording of those transactions. You have to be able to get comfortable with that, and that means you need to be able to document what you’re looking for. Because what the auditor is really doing is looking for a “needle in the haystack”, to identify the transactions that don’t look right, that don’t make sense in the ordinary course of business. For example, if the business is not open on weekends, are transactions being posted on a Saturday or Sunday, or even on holidays? If you see rounded numbers or accounts that are seldom used, those can be red flags as well. Sometimes it can be as simple as asking managers and others like accounting, data entry and IT personnel if they’ve observed any unusual accounting entries. Depending on the size of the company and scope of the work, you might need to use computerized audit software program — some of them with AI built in — that can scan the entries to identify anomalies. Red flags When an auditor is looking for evidence of management override of controls, they can look for some of these 12 red flags indicators: ● Top-side entries ● Entries made to unrelated, unusual or seldom-used accounts ● Entries made by individuals who typically don't make entries. ● Entries recorded at the end of the period ● Post-closing entries with no explanations ● Entries made before or during the preparation of financial statements with no account numbers ● Entries that contain rounded numbers or a consistent ending number ● Entries processed outside the normal course of business ● Accounts that contain transactions that are complex or unusual in nature ● Accounts that contain significant estimates and period-end adjustments ● Accounts that have been prone to errors in the past ● Accounts that contain intercompany transactions When testing non-standard journal entries and other adjustments, you should look for documentary evidence indicating that they were properly supported and approved by management. Finally, remember that while most fraudulent entries are made at the end of a reporting period, you shouldn't ignore the rest of the year  Collemi Consulting leverages nearly three decades of experience to provide trusted technical accounting and auditing expertise when you need it the most. We regularly work with CPA firm leadership to help them reduce risk and maximize efficiencies. To schedule an appointment, contact us at (732) 792-6101.
December 20, 2024
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Are you ready to enhance the quality of your practice?

Contact Salvatore A. Collemi, CPA at your earliest convenience for a free initial one-hour consultation. With Mr. Collemi’s extensive experience in the public accounting profession, he understands the impact of U.S. and International financial reporting, internal control systems and regulatory compliance acumen as they affect both privately-held and publicly-traded companies. In addition, his diverse senior leadership roles will provide valuable insight on a wide range of strategic, financial, regulatory compliance and global business considerations.

Collemi Consulting - Enhancing Audit Quality Video

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