How we vet auditors

This page is the standard. Every “Vetted auditor” badge on this site links here, and everything the badge asserts is defined here. A directory listing asserts none of this: listings are compiled facts from public sources, no firm pays to appear, and nothing is ranked.

What the badge asserts. The firm accepted our referral terms, the operator completed and dated its vetting call, every check below passed, and its signed track is auditor: attestation work.

What we verify, before any badge renders:

• A current CPA license, confirmed against the issuing state board’s public registry. Only a licensed CPA firm can sign a SOC 2 opinion, so this is where vetting starts.
• A current AICPA peer review, confirmed against the public peer review file, with a passing result.
• A named engagement partner. The person who will lead your fieldwork, by name, before any introduction. Not a sales contact; the signer’s team.
• A documented client engagement, with a named client contact and a standing right to call that contact. Not a logo wall. A person who answers the phone.
• A fixed-fee quote practice. The firm quotes defined scope at a fixed fee.

Absolute disqualifiers. Any one of these ends the conversation:

• Signing the audit opinion on work the same firm prepared. That is an independence failure, and independence is the entire point of an audit.
• No current peer review.
• Refusing to name the fieldwork partner.
• Refusing a fixed fee with defined scope.

What vetting is not. We do not review working papers. We do not assess audit quality. We do not guarantee that any enterprise will accept a firm’s report. Vetting verifies that a firm is what it says it is and commits to the practices above; it is not an opinion on the audit itself, and we will not pretend otherwise.

If a check lapses, the badge is removed and the firm reverts to a plain listing. We never display an expired or negative status. The absence of a badge is not an accusation. Checks are re-verified at least annually and whenever an underlying credential expires.

Corrections. Any firm, vetted or listed, can request a correction to its compiled facts at hello@grcmigrate.com. We review correction requests within two business days, and every published fact stays traceable to its source.

The response standard. Introductions to vetted partners are time-sensitive: no response within one business day is a pass, and the lead may be routed elsewhere.

Where the money is. No firm pays to be listed. Vetted partners pay a flat referral fee only when they accept an introduction, and nothing else, ever. An introduction from a platform partner team earns a conversation, never a badge, a listing, or a referred buyer. No platform participates in vetting, listing, or lead routing, and no platform is compensated.

The principles behind every standard on this site are published in one place, at grcmigrate.com/principles.