Got a referral to audit utility accounts for a county government complex in South Carolina — courthouse, jail, public works facility, and a couple of admin buildings all on Dominion Energy. The county attorney says I need to go through their procurement office to get an engagement approved before they'll sign any LOA. Is auditing government accounts always this bureaucratic?
LOA process for government and military facility accounts
Government accounts are slower to sign up but they're great clients once you're in. Most counties and municipalities have procurement thresholds — below a certain dollar amount they can sole-source, above it they need competitive bids or RFPs. Since your audit is contingency-based with no upfront cost, many procurement offices will treat it as a no-cost professional services agreement which has a lower approval threshold. Frame it that way in your proposal. Virginia and South Carolina both have provisions for contingency-based consulting that simplify the procurement process.
I audit several municipal accounts in the Norfolk area with Dominion. One quirk with government accounts — the LOA sometimes needs to be signed by a specific authorized official, not just any employee. For a county that's usually the county manager or a designated procurement officer. Make sure you find out who has signing authority before you send the LOA to the wrong person and waste two weeks.
George is right about the procurement framing. Government entities are required to be good stewards of public funds, and a contingency-based audit that costs them nothing unless you find savings is an easy sell from that perspective. I'd also note that government accounts often have excellent records — they're required to maintain detailed financial documentation. So once you get through the procurement process, the data collection is usually smoother than private sector clients who lost their bills.