Greccio Housing

SVA Helps Greccio Housing Strengthen Financial Operations to Support Its Mission

Greccio Housing is a nonprofit affordable housing organization that combines affordable housing with resident resources designed to promote housing and family stability in the Colorado Springs community.

Over the past 20 years, the organization has grown significantly as it has worked to meet the need for affordable housing. Along with that growth came greater financial and operational complexity, including more sophisticated financing structures and increased use of low-income housing tax credits.

As Greccio Housing evolved, Executive Director Lee Patke recognized that the organization needed an audit firm with the experience and capabilities to keep pace.

“As our business has grown, the complexity of our financials and our business operations has also grown,” said Patke. “As we’ve gotten into more low-income housing tax credits and more complex financing structures, we needed an audit firm that matched that complexity, and SVA was able to provide that for us.”

The Challenge: Finding Audit Expertise That Matched a Growing Organization

For Greccio Housing, the right audit relationship needed to provide more than technical capabilities. The organization wanted access to broad expertise while still having a team that was accessible and engaged throughout the year.

Patke found that combination with SVA.

“When we found SVA, it was really a perfect blend for us of national expertise and reputation and history with a local team that was responsive, available, and interactive whenever we needed them,” he said.

That local presence quickly became an important part of the relationship. Rather than interacting with the SVA team only during the annual audit, Greccio Housing could ask questions throughout the year about financial systems, processes, and decisions that could ultimately affect the audit.

“The local team really comes across as a partner and not just some faceless national asset that comes in to help whenever we need it,” Patke said. “They’re really here on a daily basis and year-round when we’ve got questions about financial systems that will impact our end-of-the-year audit.”

The Solution: Detailed Auditing Supported by a Strong Relationship

Greccio Housing wanted a rigorous audit process that would provide a meaningful assessment of its financial operations, and the organization received that from its first year working with SVA.

“We got exactly what we wanted: deep, detailed analysis,” Patke said. “But with that comes a lot of scrutiny, a lot of questions and answers, a lot of demonstrating what we say we’re doing.”

That level of scrutiny gave Greccio Housing confidence in the audit process, while the relationship with the SVA team helped make the experience manageable.

“The SVA team’s focus on those details was really what we bought and paid for,” Patke said. “The relationships that came along with that are what made that process effective and manageable.”

That partnership became especially valuable when Greccio Housing faced an unexpected staffing challenge at one of the most demanding points in its audit cycle.

The Results: Meeting an Important Deadline Despite Staff Turnover

About a year into the relationship, Greccio Housing experienced turnover in its controller position just as audit fieldwork was taking place.

The timing created a significant disruption. In Patke’s 16 years with Greccio Housing, the organization had never failed to deliver an audit on time, and maintaining that record was important to its investors and funding relationships.

With SVA’s assistance, Greccio Housing was able to obtain a 60-day extension. Despite having the controller position vacant for approximately two months, the organization completed the work within the extended deadline and delivered its audit on time.

For Greccio Housing, the value of the audit goes beyond meeting deadlines or satisfying minimum requirements from funding sources.

“We know that after we’ve gone through an audit that we have met the highest standard,” Patke said. “We know that that’s genuine. It’s deep, and it’s demonstrated by our daily processes.”

Strong Financial Operations Support the Mission

Greccio Housing’s financial operations provide the foundation for the work it does in the community. Having confidence in those systems allows the organization to remain focused on providing affordable housing, resident resources, and greater family stability.

“Part of the value of SVA and any audit certainly is about our financial performance,” Patke said. “But why that’s so important to Greccio is that it underlies and reinforces part of our mission that is the core of why we’re here.”

For Patke, strong financial processes and a trusted audit relationship help position Greccio Housing to continue serving the community as it grows.

“We can’t do that important work in the field if we don’t know the core of our business, he said. “SVA has given us the confidence and the partnership to move into the future to know that because of our business operation, our mission is going to be accomplished.”

That combination of technical expertise, responsiveness, and year-round partnership is also what Patke would emphasize to another organization considering SVA.

“If you were prepared and ready to meet the highest standards of your financial systems with a partner that is responsive and there with you throughout the year, not just at audit time, I would absolutely recommend SVA.”