Communication throughout the year
The key element to making the audit process smooth (and stress free) is communication. If you haven’t already, build up a relationship with your auditor so that you feel like you are in the position where you can pick up the phone and ask them a question. We like questions, and we like to help, so we will always welcome these. Most of the time they make our job easier too as it means we can either pre-empt issues before they arise and every question gives us another opportunity to learn more about you and your organisation.
We’ve all heard the phrases “there’s no such thing as a silly question” and “to assume makes an ass out of you and me”, but appreciate that if you’re an accountant in a charity you may not have anybody to bounce technical questions off. When we say in our audit pitches that we are here as a sounding board, we mean it. In our offices, we are always discussing issues between ourselves and our team and getting other people's perspective on them, so don’t feel like you can’t use us to do the same.
From a mental health perspective, it also means you haven’t got any issues hanging over you when it comes to the audit planning meeting or audit fieldwork. None of us like feeling like we have things we haven’t been able to ‘tick off our to-do list’, so if you have an issue or you’re not sure of anything, pick up the phone and speak to your friendly auditor.
Establish your audit timeline
At your audit planning meeting, be sure to make your audit team aware of your proposed timeline as to when you would like to approve the accounts, from the outset. Your audit team will usually have pencilled in prospective fieldwork dates months in advance of having the planning meeting. If you know when your Board meeting and any other relevant sub-committee dates are, then it is often useful to work backwards to close the gaps between these two dates. This means we all know what should be happening and when, so there’s no last minute panics of “I need the accounts as they’re being approved next week”. No one likes surprises and if we know what timelines we need to work to, we can get everything to you in good time without anybody panicking.
Schedules required for audit
We often provide our clients with a list of deliverables we expect to be ready/will need to see during the course of our audit fieldwork and we give this to our clients well ahead of the audit week to allow them to prepare. It helps to take the pressure off you during our visit if you know what we want to see.
You being prepared for our audit fieldwork visit means that we can be more efficient and also likely to be out of your hair earlier. When we leave your offices and go back to our own, you shouldn’t be bombarded with lots of extra questions or requests for additional information. We can leave you with a clear conscience at the end of the day that everything is in-hand.
Things happen, if you're not ready...tell us
Exactly as the sub-heading says. If the past two years have taught us anything, it is that life happens and sometimes even the best laid plans can be thrown out of the window due to illness or other reasons.
Yes it is much better for us, and for you, if everything is ready at the start of the audit as I set out above. Yes there may potentially be cost implications if you’re not ready, but for us to be forewarned is much better. Our staff are booked on client work usually up to 9 months ahead so if we know you’re not ready before the fieldwork starts, then we can look at and discuss with you, our options for getting the job done. It may be that we can juggle some things around or book in some additional time for the team but telling us in advance is much better than your audit team turning up and finding out there is nothing much for them to audit.
We’re human and we get it. It happens to us too. So, if your audit week is fast approaching and you won’t be completely ready then don’t panic and pick up the phone to your auditor to let them know.
The next step
If you would like to discuss how to make your audit process smoother, get in touch with your local UHY representative.
