Finance & controls Audit readiness: Walk into your audit already prepared.
A dry run of your audit before the auditors arrive. We work through what they will ask for, test it the way they will, and hand you a list of what to fix while it is still cheap to fix.
Sound familiar?
What owners tell us.
Tap the one that sounds like you and tell us about it.
-
“Fieldwork ran three weeks over last year.”
Contact us about: Fieldwork ran three weeks over last year. -
“We never know what the auditors will ask for next.”
Contact us about: We never know what the auditors will ask for next. -
“It is our first audit and nobody here has done one.”
Contact us about: It is our first audit and nobody here has done one.
Audit readiness
What the work covers.
Big Four rigour, applied to your business: numbers ready for your auditors, your lenders and the decisions you need to make.
- 01
The request list, before it arrives
We build the prepared-by-client list your auditors will send, assign every line an owner and a date, and check each item against the ledger.
- 02
Schedules and reconciliations
Bank, receivables, payables, accruals, fixed assets, inventory and payroll, reconciled to the trial balance, with old reconciling items explained rather than carried forward.
- 03
Cut-off and judgements
Revenue and cost cut-off around year-end, provisions and estimates, and the evidence behind each judgement an auditor will challenge.
- 04
Controls that leave a trail
Approvals, reviews and segregation of duties tested for evidence, because a control that leaves no trail does not exist for audit purposes.
How it works
Fixed scope. No surprises.
We start with last year’s audit findings and management letter if you have them, then work through the year-end schedules and controls the way an external auditor would. The review is advice, not an audit: your external auditor still forms the opinion and signs.
- 01 First conversation
By email or a free 30-minute call, to understand the problem and whether this is the right fix.
- 02 Fixed scope and price
In writing, before any work starts. No hourly meter running.
- 03 The work and handover
Led by a founding partner, finished with documentation your team can use.
FAQs
Common questions.
Something else? Send us a message, or email hello@fd-consulting.example.
Contact usWhen should we start?
Ideally two to three months before year-end, so gaps can be fixed before the balance date. Starting after year-end still helps; there is simply less time to fix what we find.
Is this an audit?
No. It is a readiness review. We give no assurance opinion; we prepare you so the real audit runs faster and raises fewer questions.
Do you work with our auditors?
We can. Sharing the findings with your auditor before fieldwork usually shortens it, because the questions are answered before they are asked.
More from our finance & controls practice
Not sure this is the right fix?
Tell us what is going on, and we will tell you honestly whether you need this, the diagnostic first, or neither.