keep your audit team flowing smoothly.
by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future
your team must take a proactive, anticipatory approach to completing an audit in the field. think about the bottlenecks you faced last year with this same client and the bottlenecks that seem to happen with every client.
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sit down with your team and have open-ended conversations about actions to take to reduce or eliminate those bottlenecks. here are some ideas for preventing problems:
- if a client has a history of not being totally ready, call a week before fieldwork to confirm their readiness. be prepared to reschedule fieldwork if needed. adding due dates to all the client-prepared schedules and enforcing those due dates can also help move things along on their end.
- when new accounting standards need to be implemented, make sure your audit approach is designed with those in mind. discuss those new standards with your client as early as possible. if you’re assisting your client with financial statement preparation, draft proposed footnotes during planning so the client has time to read them.
- another common bottleneck is waiting for the work to be reviewed. that’s why i recommend reviewing the work in the field in real time as it’s completed. reviewing work promptly ensures that everyone’s memories are fresh.
- third-party confirmation can also create another bottleneck if it is not received in a timely manner. a best practice is to request confirmations as soon after year-end as possible, not during fieldwork. attorney procedures should be performed on the first day of fieldwork, and any attorney letters should be mailed no later than that day.
- clients don’t always complete their requested schedules on time. however, this problem can be minimized by requiring them to be completed in advance so the in-charge can review them. any incomplete schedules should be returned to the client rather than fixed on your end. if you have to fix them on your end, this work should be billed separately with the client’s consent.
eliminating these bottlenecks can go a long way toward successfully completing the audit in the field. taking a proactive approach also gives your client notice that your firm is focused on performing the audit efficiently. this will also give your team the extra time and mental energy to think about their work and how to add relevance and value to their work.
if there are open items, then a wrap-up must also be scheduled. audit teams usually leave with a list of open items. but don’t tell the client to get those open items to you as soon as possible. the best way is to give the client your list of open items and tell the client that you are scheduled to wrap this up one week from today. this requires the client to get all of the open items to you by that deadline.
your time – and your staff’s – is just as valuable as your client’s.