Start with the answer that surprises most people: Utah law does not require your association to have its books audited. The word "audit" does not appear anywhere in the Utah Community Association Act. There is no annual audit requirement, no threshold above which one kicks in, and no rule about who may perform one.

That is not the same as saying an audit is a bad idea, or that your association does not have to do one. It means the state has left the decision to your community. The answer lies in your governing documents.

What If the Governing Documents Require an Audit and the Board Is Not Doing One?

Read the declaration and the bylaws first. If your community decided at some point that it wanted audits, that is where the requirement and process will be documented.

Section 57-8a-212.5 is what gives that requirement teeth. It provides that, subject to reasonable compliance by the board, each lot owner shall reasonably comply with the governing documents, and that a failure to comply is grounds for an action for damages or injunctive relief, brought by the board or, in a proper case, by an aggrieved lot owner. The obligation runs both ways. A board that ignores an audit requirement its own documents impose is not simply making a management choice.

What About GAAP?

GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the standard framework most American accountants work from, and the basis a certified public accountant would ordinarily use for an audit.

The Community Association Act does not require it. Just as no statute requires an association to obtain an audit, no statute requires that an audit, if the association chooses to have one, be conducted in accordance with GAAP. That choice sits between the board and whoever it hires.

What the Law Does Require Instead

The absence of an audit requirement does not leave owners without a way to check the finances. Three separate requirements do that work.

• Records on request. Under Section 57-8a-227, an owner may inspect and copy association records, and the association must comply within 10 business days. The list includes the most recent annual budget and financial statement, the most recent reserve analysis, profit and loss statements for the previous three fiscal years, and balance sheets for the previous three fiscal years.
• A reserve analysis. Under Section 57-8a-211, unless the governing documents say otherwise, the association must have one conducted at least every six years and reviewed and updated, if necessary, at least every three years. Owners receive an annual summary and a full copy upon request.
• A budget presented to the members. Under Section 57-8a-215, the board must prepare and adopt a budget at least once a year and present it to the members at a meeting of the members.

Three years of profit and loss statements and balance sheets, produced on a ten-business-day clock, are a meaningful window into the finances even without an auditor's opinion.

The Two Votes Owners Do Have

Owners cannot compel an audit, but they are not spectators at budget time. There are two separate votes, and they aim at different targets.

Under Section 57-8a-215(3), an adopted budget is disapproved if at least 51% of all allocated voting interests vote to disapprove it, at a special meeting owners call for that purpose, within 45 days after the meeting where the board presented the budget.

Under Section 57-8a-211(7), owners may separately veto only the reserve fund line item by a 51% vote at a special meeting they call within 45 days after the association adopts the budget.

Both require owners to call the meeting themselves as a special meeting. Neither happens automatically.

Where to Go Next

If your association will not produce the financial records required by the statute, or is not complying with the terms of its governing documents, that may be a statutory question, and the Office of the Homeowners' Association Ombudsman may be able to issue an advisory opinion on it. Anything beyond that belongs to a court or your own attorney.

Reviewed against the Utah Code, current as of August 10, 2026.