Agreed-upon procedures
In one sentenceAn engagement in which the accountant performs specific procedures agreed with the client and then reports what he found, without giving an opinion or assurance.
Simply put
In agreed-upon procedures the client says: examine these specific points. The accountant writes what he did and what he found, as it is.
The reader draws the conclusions, which is why the report is usually restricted to the parties that agreed on the procedures.
Example
The owner of a brand grants franchises to restaurants in other cities and charges fees as a percentage of sales, so he engages an accountant to match each restaurant's sales from the cashier system against bank statements, and receives a report of the differences without an opinion.
Don't confuse it with
Review engagementA review gives limited assurance on the statements as a whole, while agreed-upon procedures give no assurance at all.