AuditLink, the audit and compliance division of CU*Answers, is proud to announce a strategic alliance with Lillie & Company, a CPA firm that works exclusively with credit unions. The alliance was created for several reasons, but the most important was to ensure AuditLink’s clients will receive a quality audit by a well-known credit union audit firm that performs BSA, ACH, and SAFE Act audits with a deep knowledge of CU*Answers and CU*BASE^®.

In 2019, AuditLink began to pare back these audits as emerging compliance regulations increased the time it took to adequately complete them, particularly BSA. To ensure AuditLink had the capacity to deliver other vital services that clients desperately need in a compliance-driven environment while also offering audit services many credit unions have used over the years, the idea was to partner with a firm with the same dedication to the industry as CU*Answers.

CU*Answers has worked with Steve Lillie, managing partner of Lillie & Company, and his team for several years. Lillie’s practice already has many of the CU*Answers credit unions as clients and has for many years. Jim Vilker, VP Professional Services, AuditLink stated, “The goal is to have a firm that knows the platform they are auditing as well as the AuditLink team”. Knowing the system and its capabilities, reporting structure, and feature functionality makes for a quality audit and creates efficiencies around the audit process not seen with other CPA firms. What will set this apart is the training provided by AuditLink to the Lillie auditors. This is designed to be continuous with AuditLink serving as not only the trainer but also support when their auditors are in the field.

Steve Lillie added: “We are privileged to partner with CU*Answers and Jim’s team. CU*Answers is highly respected, and this alliance provides joint resources to the CU*Answers network. Each of us bring unique strengths and expertise to the table that will produce a synergistic effect. By cooperatively working together, credit unions will receive a first-rate service that not only exceeds regulatory requirements but assists them with mitigating compliance risk.”

What is equally as important is Steve’s firm works only with credit unions and their deep knowledge of regulations is a real plus for CU*Answers clients. Not only does Steve and his team provide a vast array of audit and consulting services, they are one of the most recognized and respected credit union fraud experts in the country. Vilker went on to say, “the alliance agreement also allows us to share that fraud related knowledge for future core functionality, as well as provide training for credit unions throughout the network.”