GAAP Conversion Cost: Three Anonymized Examples From Real Contracts

These are GAAP conversion cost examples for Phase 1 of a conversion: the assessment of the differences between your current framework and US GAAP. Phase 1 fees run from USD 13,800 to EUR 60,000 or more on a fixed fee, depending on how many entities and GAAP frameworks are in scope, how many technical accounting memos are needed and how well your finance team prepares. Phase 1 tells you what changes and how to account for it. It does not produce your US GAAP numbers. For some finance teams that is enough to take the rest in-house; for others, the work of quantifying the adjustments, preparing US GAAP trial balances and financial statements, and supporting the audit follows as a separate, larger phase. All figures are exclusive of VAT.

Key takeaways

The fees in this post cover Phase 1 only: identifying and documenting the differences between your current GAAP and US GAAP.
Phase 1 for a single subsidiary with good preparation cost USD 13,800; a five-jurisdiction group with three memos cost EUR 60,000.
Some teams take the rest of the conversion in-house after Phase 1. Others need further work to quantify adjustments, prepare US GAAP trial balances and financial statements, and work with the auditors, which is scoped and priced separately.
Entity count, framework count and the number of technical memos set the Phase 1 tier; your team’s preparation sets where you are within it.
Big Four firms typically charge USD 150,000 to 250,000 or more for comparable scope.

Phase 1 and what follows it

A GAAP conversion has two parts, and only the first is priced in this post.

Phase 1: assess the differences. Map your accounts and accounting policies against US GAAP, identify every difference that changes a number, agree the US GAAP policies in a GAAP Summit workshop, and document the judgment areas in technical accounting memos. The output is a GAAP conversion matrix, policy recommendations and memos.
Phase 2: convert the numbers. Quantify each difference, prepare the conversion adjustments and journal entries for every period presented, produce US GAAP trial balances and financial statements with notes, and support your team through the audit.

Phase 1 is enough for teams with the capacity and technical depth to do Phase 2 themselves, using the matrix and memos as their instructions. Teams that are short on time or US GAAP experience, or that face an SEC filing or a first US GAAP audit, usually need support for Phase 2 as well, and that work adds materially to the total cost of the conversion.

How Phase 1 GAAP conversion cost is structured: three fixed-fee tiers

Phase 1 is priced as a fixed fee and paid in monthly installments, typically three to six.

Tier	Phase 1 fee range	What it includes
Essential	USD 13,800 to 24,000	GAAP Summit workshop and preliminary US GAAP policy recommendations. Your finance team does the pre-work (chart of accounts, current policy documentation). No technical memos and no financial statement preparation.
Premium	USD 18,000 to 35,000	The advisor prepares the documentation and analysis: the full GAAP conversion matrix, a half-day GAAP Summit workshop and usually one or two technical accounting memos.
Elite	USD 36,000 to 60,000+	Multiple entities or frameworks: the complete conversion matrix, the workshop and two to three technical memos. Can extend into the first Phase 2 steps, such as US GAAP trial balance preparation and auditor liaison.

Five factors that move the Phase 1 fee within a tier

Number of entities and GAAP frameworks. Each additional entity or framework adds its own mapping, adjustments and review.
Internal preparation. This is the largest factor. A complete chart of accounts and written current policies move you to the lower end of a tier.
Technical accounting memos. Each memo costs USD 10,000 to 12,000. Memos are required for PCAOB and SEC readiness.
Historical periods covered. Every comparative period needs the same analysis.
Timeline. A compressed delivery date carries a surcharge.

Example 1: US agri-SaaS company with a UK subsidiary (USD 13,800)

The company reported its UK subsidiary under FRS 102 and its US operations on a tax basis, and needed to know what one US GAAP view of the group would require. The scope was contained: one subsidiary, organized books and a finance team that did the pre-work.

Tier: Essential
Frameworks: FRS 102 and US tax basis to US GAAP
Phase 1 fee: USD 13,800, paid in 3 installments of USD 4,600
Timeline: about 3 months

The fee is at the bottom of the Essential range because the team prepared its own chart of accounts and documentation of current policies. The engagement could focus on the workshop and the policy recommendations rather than on cleaning up records, and no memos were needed at this stage. The quantification and preparation of US GAAP figures were outside this fee.

Example 2: Irish subsidiary of a US company (EUR 23,600)

An Irish subsidiary reporting under Irish GAAP (FRS 102) needed to know what its US parent’s US GAAP reporting would require.

Tier: Essential Original
Frameworks: Irish GAAP (FRS 102) to US GAAP
Phase 1 fee: EUR 23,600, paid in 4 installments of EUR 5,900
Timeline: about 4 months

The package was similar to Example 1, but the fee was higher. More analysis was needed to bring the accounts to a US GAAP standard, and the timeline ran to four months. The same Phase 1 package can carry a very different fee depending on the condition of the books and the work required to assess them.

Example 3: entertainment group across five jurisdictions (EUR 60,000)

A streaming and entertainment group operating in the UK, Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands and Belgium needed the full Phase 1 assessment for a US GAAP conversion.

Tier: Elite
Scope: 5 jurisdictions
Memos: 3 (overall conversion approach, revenue recognition and content assets)
Phase 1 fee: EUR 60,000, paid in 5 installments of EUR 12,000
Timeline: about 4 months

Two things set the fee. Each of the five jurisdictions brought its own local framework to map. The three memos covered judgment-heavy areas: revenue under ASC 606 and the accounting for content assets both require detailed analysis, and at USD 10,000 to 12,000 per memo they account for a large share of the fee. Even at this level, the fee covers the assessment and the documented policies, not the converted figures for five entities.

What separates a USD 13,800 Phase 1 from a EUR 60,000 one

Example	Tier	Entities	Memos	Phase 1 fee
Agri-SaaS company and UK subsidiary	Essential	2	0	USD 13,800
Irish subsidiary	Essential Original	1	0	EUR 23,600
Entertainment group	Elite	5 jurisdictions	3	EUR 60,000

The range follows four variables: the number of entities, the number of frameworks, the number of memos and the preparation the client brought. The two Essential engagements show that preparation and the condition of the books can change the fee by about 10,000 within the same package.

What Phase 2 adds to the total cost of a GAAP conversion

After Phase 1 you know what has to change. Phase 2 is the work of changing it:

Quantifying each difference in the matrix for every entity and every period presented
Preparing the conversion adjustments and journal entries, including their deferred tax effects
Producing US GAAP trial balances and consolidated financial statements with notes
Answering auditor questions and supporting fieldwork

Teams with US GAAP experience and time often do this themselves, using the Phase 1 matrix and memos. Where that capacity is missing, or where an SEC filing or first US GAAP audit sets a fixed deadline, Phase 2 is scoped once Phase 1 has shown how many differences there are and how large they are.

Phase 1 GAAP conversion cost compared with the alternatives

Big Four firms typically charge USD 150,000 to 250,000 or more for comparable scope.
An in-house hire costs EUR 90,000 to 130,000 or more in salary, plus recruiting costs and time to get up to speed, for expertise you may need only once.
A CFO-led conversion has no external fee, but it is usually slower and riskier, and it costs more once an auditor sends work back for remediation.

How to keep both phases at the lower end

Your entity structure and the number of memos your audit requires decide the Phase 1 tier. Preparation decides the fee within it, and it also decides how much of Phase 2 your own team can carry. Arrive with a complete chart of accounts, trial balances for every entity and period, and written descriptions of your current accounting policies. For how the pricing logic works across both phases, see how I price a GAAP conversion. For groups with several subsidiaries, see how to manage GAAP conversions for multiple subsidiaries across Europe.

For a Phase 1 estimate based on your own entities, frameworks and periods, use the GAAP conversion cost calculator.