Cornerstone Resources

Audit & Consulting

With our Audit & Consulting team at Cornerstone Resources, you gain the peace of mind that comes from knowing you're up to date and in compliance with changing regulatory rules. When you engage our expert auditors to conduct your audits, reviews, and other specialty assessment needs, you're free to focus on your biggest asset: your members.

Feel confident outsourcing with us. We can perform most of our services remotely because we deliver your information through our secure CU Driver portal. Be sure to schedule our auditors ahead of time, so we're there when you need us.

Trusted Leadership

Amanda Dawson, VP, Audit & Consulting

Amanda Dawson, Ph.D., provides remote credit union operations consulting services across the nation. Her services include commercial lending program reviews; commercial loan underwriting, monitoring, and reporting; and interim CEO/CFO. Dawson’s professional background includes more than 20 years of financial industry experience in roles such as VP of commercial loan operations, commercial credit analyst manager, internal auditor, and credit union financial examiner. Dawson earned her doctorate in business administration, specializing in management, during 2022.
Amanda Dawson

We are Ready to Help

We can help you stay compliant and manage risk.

Existing client? Contact us for assistance.

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Client Care

Firsthand experience into regulatory and compliance challenges

Cornerstone Resources provides a deep understanding that comes from having worked with credit unions for more than 50 years. We only focus on credit unions, which gives us firsthand experience into the regulatory and compliance challenges you face. Applying this experience and the knowledge from our highly trained staff, we can help you manage your credit union’s risk.

Why Choose Us? 

Service for credit unions of any asset size

Solutions other CPA firms can’t provide, such as consulting

Work paper delivery for a smoother examination process

Secure portal for document delivery and storage

Services

Review the credit union’s records to ensure accuracy based on agreed-upon procedures outlined in the engagement agreement with the Supervisory Committee, emphasizing the credit union’s general ledger (accounting), lending, and internal controls.

  • Address the minimum standards developed explicitly by regulators.
  • Every general ledger account above 5% of the credit union’s net worth will be reviewed.
  • Testing of Internal Controls in compliance with regulatory requirements.
  • Loan review and sampling in compliance with annual agreed-upon procedures and regulatory guidelines.

Our Internal Audit Program is designed to aid your board of directors and supervisory/audit committee in performing their basic duties as volunteers. The thoroughness of our Internal Audit Program depends on the type of visits you require, the member services you offer, and the complexity of your operation. Our Internal Audit Program, allows you:

  • Choice in the frequency of audits: monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly, etc.
  • Customized contacts with designated auditors
  • In-depth review of your credit union’s operations
  • Review of adherence to policies, regulations, and compliance  
  • Narrower areas of review: lending, operations, specific compliance, cash, accounting control, and internal controls

Federal and state regulators require a credit union to verify their members’ accounts with its records at least every two years. The bylaws of a credit union, however, may require the audit be performed annually. Member account verification:

  • Ensures you maintain the independence and compliance of the audit, 
  • Prevents fraud and identify errors in the accounts or statements, and 
  • Is most efficient when conducted with a quarterly statement run, which also saves on additional processing costs. 

Credit unions must undertake an annual review of procedures and documentation relating to requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), Customer Identification Programs (CIP), and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Make sure Audit and Consulting Services are on your schedule to conduct your compliance reviews.

BSA/CIP

These reviews are required every 12 to 18 months, commensurate with the credit union’s BSA/AML risk profile. 

OFAC

OFAC reviews are required every 12 to 18 months based on the credit union’s OFAC risk profile or known or perceived risks

Credit unions are required to conduct audits for compliance with ACH rules, according to the general audit requirements specified by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), by Dec. 31 of each year. Generally, only the ACH processors in the credit union fully understand the ACH function; however, since the audit should not be performed by staff involved with the daily processing of ACH files, auditing adherence to rules by the credit union's audit committee can be a challenge. 

That's where Cornerstone Resources can come in as your independent external auditor. Our professionals have: 

  • Performed more than 2,300 ACH audits since 2000.
  • Been exposed to ACH processes at a broad variety of credit unions. 
  • Worked on many computer systems and understand how ACH entries post on those systems, as well as how credit union staff handles returns.
And, our specialists can conduct an ACH audit in two days, whereas an audit committee might take weeks to complete the audit requirements. 

Commercial Lending Services

Our commercial lending services can help your member business lending operations in the following ways:

We will conduct complete annual reviews and review current risk grades to determine if your MBLs are adequately graded and if additional funding is needed in your ALLL account, based on risk level.

We can ensure your policies are compliant with NCUA 723 and make sure they're being followed through the MBL lending process.

Let us review your existing MBL portfolio concentrations and risk gradings to determine the impact of new economic challenges. We will provide projections and help you plan for solutions to mitigate future loan losses.

If you don't have a member business lending program, you might be missing an opportunity. We'll help you establish a program that provides value-added services to your members.

We can provide MBL training to your staff, as well as consulting. If you want to be lender with the Small Business Administration, we can teach your staff underwriting and how to navigate the nuances of the system.

Business Operations Consulting

Our Business Operations Consulting includes a wide variety of assistance developed to help credit unions with their unique needs and includes:

  • Analysis 
  • Budgeting 
  • Current Expected Credit Loss Review
  • Remedial accounting 
  • Specified account reconciliation

  • Allowance account adequacy reviews
  • Change of management reviews 
  • Collection reviews:
    • Efficiencies 
    • Procedures of collections
    • Repossessions, including disposition
  • Customizable reviews:
    • Accounting
    • Internal control 
    • Operations
  • End-of-month (EOM) packet reviews
  • Insider statement reviews
  • Lending reviews:
    • Commercial lending
    • Consumer lending (auto, unsecured)
    • Credit card
    • Real estate

  • Bond claims, forensic audits, or fraud audits
  • One-day credit union internal audits
  • Specialty audits, customized and based on the needs of the credit union and management

  • Accounting
  • Back-office accounting
  • Call report preparation

  • Accounting
  • Call reports