What is the best CPA for nonprofits?
The best firm for your organization is the one that has audited organizations like yours and can prove it. Single audit experience is verifiable: the Federal Audit Clearinghouse names the auditor on every filed single audit, and 1,770 firms appear on three or more nonprofit single audits in our copy of that data (as of 2026-09-20).
Last verified: 2026-09-20 · Every figure links its source.
What should a nonprofit look for when choosing an auditor?
| Criterion | How to check it |
|---|---|
| Nonprofit and single audit experience | Look the firm up in the filings — our directory is built from them |
| Peer review | Ask for the most recent peer review report and any letter of comment |
| Independence | Confirm they do not keep your books or prepare your indirect cost proposal (2 CFR 200.509) |
| The actual team | Names and hours of the partner, manager and in-charge on your job |
| Program fit | Have they tested the federal programs you run? |
| Fee basis | Fixed fee, what triggers extra billing, and the price of the next two years |
| Timeline | Fieldwork dates, draft date, and the filing deadline they are committing to |
Source: 2 CFR 200.509 · GAO Government Auditing Standards · Federal Audit Clearinghouse · Last verified: 2026-09-20
How do you verify a firm's nonprofit audit experience?
Do not rely on a capability statement. Every single audit filed since the Federal Audit Clearinghouse moved to its current platform names the auditor, so you can count the firm's nonprofit work yourself (FAC search). We publish the same thing organised by state and city at audit firms by state, and each firm page shows the nonprofit single audits observed for that firm by year.
Source: Federal Audit Clearinghouse · FAC search · Last verified: 2026-09-20
What questions should you ask in an audit RFP?
- How many nonprofit single audits did you file last year, and in which federal programs?
- Who will actually be on site, and how many hours will the partner spend?
- What is your peer review status?
- What would take us from your fixed fee into extra billing?
- What will you need from us, and by when, to hit the filing deadline?
- How do you handle a disagreement with management about a finding?
The full structure, with a downloadable sample, is on how to write a nonprofit audit RFP.
Source: 2 CFR 200.509 · Last verified: 2026-09-20
Should our bookkeeper or CPA also be our auditor?
No. The firm that maintains the records cannot provide an independent opinion on them, and for a single audit there is also the specific bar on an auditor that prepared the indirect cost proposal or cost allocation plan where prior-year recovered indirect costs exceeded $1 million (2 CFR 200.509). Separate the roles — the comparison is in nonprofit bookkeeping services.
Source: 2 CFR 200.509 · GAO Government Auditing Standards · Last verified: 2026-09-20
Questions and answers
What is the best CPA for nonprofits?
The one with demonstrable experience auditing organizations of your size and programs, a clean peer review, independence from your bookkeeping, and a team that will actually do the work.
What is the best nonprofit CPA strategy for a small organization?
Separate bookkeeping from audit, re-bid on a regular cycle with a written RFP, and verify single audit experience in the filings rather than in marketing material.
How do CPAs help nonprofits beyond the audit?
Form 990 preparation, outsourced accounting and controller work, agreed-upon procedures for funders, and advisory work — but the firm that keeps the books cannot also audit them.
What nonprofits should look for in an outsourced accounting service?
Fund accounting experience, federal award coding, a written close calendar, named staff, and clean separation from whoever audits you.
What types of audits are best for nonprofits?
Whatever the requirement is: a single audit above the federal threshold, otherwise the audit, review or compilation that your state law, funders and lenders accept.
Ready to go to market? Build your audit RFP.
Questions this page answers
Other ways people ask the same things, and where the answer sits above.
- How do cpa's help nonprofits?
This is public-record information, not accounting or legal advice.