What is a lay audit?
Every non-profit association, student nation and housing cooperative needs an auditor to check that the finances are properly managed. The person who performs the review is called a lay auditor β they do not need to be a trained accountant, but still have a legal and moral responsibility to conduct a thorough and independent review.
A complete audit of a small organisation consists of 10 review steps. How deep the analysis can go depends on which documents are available.
Read the full audit guide (all 10 steps) βThree review levels
Basic analysis
SEK 100
Analysis of the current year's income statement and balance sheet.
- Step 1 β Risk assessment
- Step 3 β Result = change in equity (+ any untaxed reserves)
Documents needed: Income statement + balance sheet (year X)
Extended analysis
SEK 1,500
Deeper review with year-on-year comparison.
- Step 2 β Bank reconciliation
- Step 4 β Continuity check OB/CB
- Step 6 β Comparative analysis
- Step 7 β Receivables and liabilities
- + all steps from Level 1
Documents needed: Level 1 + previous year's accounts + voucher list + bank statement (31 Dec)
Full audit
Price on request
Complete lay audit with formal audit report.
- All 10 steps
- Step 9 β Management review
- Step 10 β Audit report
Documents needed: Level 2 + board minutes + activity report + budget (if available)
β Important β always check the bylaws before starting the assignment
A lay auditor must always begin by reading the association's bylaws β before looking at a single figure. The bylaws may require a professional (authorised) auditor, even for associations that have no statutory obligation to have one. This is entirely possible: a non-profit association that is not subject to mandatory audit requirements may nonetheless have decided in its own bylaws always to engage a professional auditor.
If the bylaws require a professional auditor, a lay auditor cannot complete a full audit or sign an audit report β regardless of how thorough the review is. This is a fundamental constraint that the association and the auditor must address before any work begins.
A lay auditor can, however, still perform a financial analysis of the accounts and provide valuable feedback to the board. But this is not the same as a full audit and does not result in a formal audit report.
Step 1 β Free AI pre-analysis (self-service)
Fill in the form below and click "Generate audit analysis prompt". You will receive a ready-made prompt that you copy and paste into any AI model β together with your financial documents.
Fields with a yellow background are input fields. Fill them in before generating the prompt.
About Step 3 β "The result must equal the change in equity"
In all Swedish accounting systems (Fortnox, Visma, Bokio, etc.), liabilities and equity are credit accounts and are shown with a negative sign in exported reports. This means that when equity increases (e.g. after a profit), the figure in the balance sheet becomes a larger negative number.
We always say in plain language that "a positive result increases equity" β and that is true. But in the exported figures, equity appears to decrease (becomes more negative).
There are therefore two formula versions:
Normal presentation (equity shown as a positive number):
Year's result = Ξ Equity + Ξ Untaxed reserves
Credit convention (equity shown as a negative number β most common in system exports):
Year's result = β(Ξ Equity + Ξ Untaxed reserves)
Example (LΓ₯ngkatekesen 2025, credit convention): The year's result was βSEK 14,954 (loss). Ξ Equity (closing β opening) = +SEK 597 and Ξ Investment fund (closing β opening) = +SEK 14,357. Check: β(597 + 14,357) = β14,954 β β everything checks out.
The generated prompt instructs the AI to always identify the sign convention, apply the correct formula, and check whether untaxed reserves exist.
Step 2 β Order a professional audit
The AI analysis gives a good picture of whether the figures add up β but a complete audit requires human review of documents such as voucher lists, bank statements and board minutes.
Kent Lundgren offers professional lay audits for non-profit organisations. The process takes place via email and follows the 10 steps described in the audit guide.
| Service | Documents required | What is reviewed | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 β Basic analysis | Income statement + balance sheet (year X) | Step 1 (risk assessment) + Step 3 (result = change in equity) | SEK 100 |
| Level 2 β Extended analysis | Level 1 + previous year's accounts (year Xβ1) + voucher list + bank statement (31 Dec year X) | + Step 2 (bank reconciliation), Step 4 (continuity check), Step 6 (comparative analysis), Step 7 (receivables) | SEK 1,500 |
| Level 3 β Full audit | Level 2 + board minutes + activity report + budget (if available) | All 10 steps incl. management review and formal audit report | Price on request |
How to order
- Send an email to kent@kentlundgren.se
- Attach your documents as separate PDF files (one file per document β e.g. one file for the balance sheet and one for the income statement).
- State in the email: the organisation's name, financial year, accounting system and which review level you would like.
- Kent will confirm the engagement and send payment information before work begins.
Feel free to tag @kentlundgren on X as well β for a faster response.