How to prepare for an audit

Planning ahead for an audit is a sensible way to make sure the process goes smoothly. If your company’s financial accounts are subject to audit, there are ways to prepare, by working closely with the auditors at the planning stage and ensuring all processes and records are up to date.

Head of audit and compliance at BG Audit, Nick Marshall, gives some tips on ways to get ready.

Refer to prior audits

If your business has been previously audited, make sure to check back over any issues that were raised. There might be something that took extra time, or an area you were given advice on that you need to make sure doesn’t cause delays this time around. There might be extra preparation you can do to avoid the same hold ups or further research by the auditor.

Have an early audit meeting

Holding a meeting with your auditor ahead of the event is recommended and this is part of our process here at BG Audit.

This will give you the chance to ask any questions and will also allow you and your auditor to discuss anything that could require extra research by the auditor, therefore avoiding time added during the audit. It will also allow you to go away and formulate a plan of action with your team, delegating roles and ensuring all actions are completed smoothly before the audit begins.

Consider the audit pack closely

At BG Audit we send all clients an audit pack ahead of the fieldwork. It’s important to make sure that all relevant staff members receive this and are able to complete the pre audit tasks requested, to ensure that the fieldwork goes smoothly.

Reconcile regularly

Ensure the key balance sheet control accounts are reconciled before the audit commences. This will prevent delays in the audit process. It will also ensure that the financial statements subject to audit do not change several times during the audit.

Designate one staff member to be the auditor’s point of contact

Having one person in charge of communicating with the auditor keeps things moving efficiently. It’s likely that the auditor will have questions and information will be exchanged regularly so a single point of contact where possible is helpful.

For more information, please contact BG Audit on info@beatons.co.uk or call 01473 659777.