A private company yearly audit is designed to carefully examine your company’s financial records to provide reasonable assurance. That means the CPA firm you work with will review all financial records in detail. The best way to have a quick, efficient, and timely audit is to have an action plan before it begins. Take these five steps to be on track for your next audit.
Be Ready For Your Next Private Company Yearly Audit
Auditing is essential to maintain trust and efficiency within the financial markets and with lenders and investors. Preparing for future private company audits is vital in ensuring that your company passes the audit without errors or misstatements.
1. Make A Plan for Your Yearly Audit
The best time to think about audit planning is before your auditor arrives. Keep your records up-to-date throughout the year to help ensure a smooth audit process. Also, before starting your private company audit, select an auditor that is best qualified to perform your audit. Once you have hired an auditor, schedule an appointment with them to start planning for the audit process. Audits can sometimes be complex, and early planning can alleviate any stress during that process.
2. Keep Up With New Accounting Standards and Regulations
New accounting standards and regulatory requirements are periodically introduced and may affect the audit process of your company. Therefore, it is critical to familiarize yourself and your team with any new accounting requirements that have been issued. Staying up-to-date with accounting rules and regulations will reduce the time needed during your audit to track data and make changes to comply.
3. Design A Timeline and Assign Tasks
Request a list from your auditor for the items that will be needed. Choose who on your team will be responsible for finding the information needed by the auditor. Create a timeline for your team to ensure all deadlines are met, and everyone stays on schedule throughout the audit process.
4. Organize Your Records
Ensure your financial statements, electronic records, and other documents are organized and easily accessible to your auditor. These include bookkeeping ledgers, journal entries, invoices, receipts, checks, bank statements, etc. If you had a significant business transaction outside the ordinary course of business, be sure to keep all statements to reconcile major transactions.
5. Review Your Prior Audits
Take time to review past audits before your next audit. Your past year’s audit may provide notes and recommendations that will be helpful during your yearly audit. You can help improve your future audit by making necessary changes to ensure past mistakes are not duplicated.
Avoid Common Yearly Audit Mistakes With Good Planning
A poorly planned third party audit can lead to significant problems for a company. Poor audit preparation can cause a chaotic and time-consuming audit process that is stressful for your team. Most commonly, insufficient audit planning leads to wasted time. Ensure a successful audit by following the recommendations above and hiring an experienced team of auditors to conduct your next private company audit.
How Assurance Dimensions Can Help
With a diverse experience across multiple industries, Assurance Dimensions has earned a solid reputation for delivering independent assurance to help your company satisfy the requirements of creditors, vendors, lenders, shareholders, business acquisitions, and other business partners.
Request a quote today, and let us help you plan your next financial statement audit.