(a) Unrelated to officials. A compensated auditor who performs a Supervisory Committee audit on behalf of a credit union shall not be related by blood or marriage to any management employee, member of either the board of directors, the Supervisory Committee or the credit committee, or loan officer of that credit union.

(b) Engagement letter. The engagement of a compensated auditor to perform all or a portion of the scope of a financial statement audit or supervisory committee audit shall be evidenced by an engagement letter. In all cases, the engagement must be contracted directly with the Supervisory Committee. The engagement letter must be signed by the compensated auditor and acknowledged therein by the Supervisory Committee prior to commencement of the engagement.

(c) Contents of letter. The engagement letter shall:

(1) Specify the terms, conditions, and objectives of the engagement;

(2) Identify the basis of accounting to be used;

(3) If an Other Supervisory Committee Audit, include an appendix setting forth the procedures to be performed;

(4) Specify the rate of, or total, compensation to be paid for the audit;

(5) Provide that the auditor shall, upon completion of the engagement, deliver to the Supervisory Committee a written report of the audit and notice in writing, either within the report or communicated separately, of any internal control reportable conditions and/or irregularities or illegal acts, if any, which come to the auditor's attention during the normal course of the audit (i.e., no notice required if none noted);

(6) Specify a target date of delivery of the written reports, so that such target date will enable the credit union to meet its annual audit requirements in this part;

(7) Certify that NCUA staff and/or the State credit union supervisor, or designated representatives of each, will be provided unconditional access to the complete set of original working papers, either at the offices of the credit union or at a mutually agreed upon location, for purposes of inspection; and

(8) Acknowledge that working papers shall be retained for a minimum of three years from the date of the written audit report.

(d) Complete scope. If the engagement is to perform an Other Supervisory Committee Audit intended to fully meet the requirements of §715.7, the engagement letter shall certify that the audit will address at least the minimum requirements in appendix A of this part.

(e) Exclusions from scope. If the engagement is to perform an Other Supervisory Committee Audit which will exclude any of the minimum requirements in appendix A of this part, the engagement letter shall:

(1) Identify the excluded items;

(2) State that, because of the exclusion(s), the resulting audit will not, by itself, fulfill the scope of a supervisory committee audit; and

(3) Caution that the supervisory committee will remain responsible for fulfilling the scope of a supervisory committee audit with respect to the excluded items.

[64 FR 41035, July 29, 1999, as amended at 84 FR 53308, Oct. 7, 2019]