The saying ‘time flies when you are having fun’ is so true. Yes, it’s almost time to prepare for the upcoming audit busy season, which requires careful planning and organization to ensure efficiency and to minimize stress. Here are some tips to help you be ready:
Organize Your Workspace
A clean, tidy, and decluttered workspace goes a long way towards reducing stress and increasing productivity. Make sure that last year’s audit files are properly filed for easy access, if they are required for the current year’s audit process. This entails that all your audit files, both physical and digital, are well-organized and easily accessible.
Review Previous Audits
Be ready. Simple as that. Take the time to review previous audit reports to understand common issues and areas that require more attention. Build on previous year’s audit and identify any mistakes made and plan how to avoid them this time around. Audit is a learning curve and continues to evolve.
Update Knowledge
The slow summer season is a perfect time to not only unwind and relax, but also to stay updated on new regulations or changes in auditing standards. Invest your time in attending training sessions or webinars to refresh your knowledge and learn about new auditing techniques or tools. Also, understand any new government regulations that have been issued and how those will affect the audit process.
Plan and Schedule
You probably already know which clients you will be auditing. Go ahead and develop your detailed timeline with key milestones and deadlines. Speak to your clients as you are creating this timeline to ensure they are onboard. Now that you know your timeline, ensure you have the necessary resources, including staffing, tools, and materials and assign your team the different tasks, starting with the high-priority ones to ensure they are scheduled appropriately.
Communication
Communication is an extremely important aspect of any well-defined action plan. Meet with your team members and communicate the plan, timeline, and expectations well in advance. Furthermore, reach out to your clients to cement and agree the upcoming audit process, and gather any necessary information beforehand.
Prepare Documentation
Does it now feel that you have the audit process under control? It is time to prepare the standardized templates and checklists to ensure consistency and thoroughness throughout the audit. Collect all necessary documents and data well in advance to avoid last-minute scrambling. Keep a tap on client requests and initiate periodical follow-up.
Team Collaboration
Understand that you are not alone and that your team will be there for you. Hold regular team meetings to discuss progress, address issues, and provide support. Delegate audit tasks appropriately to ensure workload is distributed evenly.
Use Technology
Gone are the times that audits are done manually, and evidence is filed are in box files.
Utilize audit management software to streamline processes and improve accuracy and save time. This includes software for mapping trial balances, creating lead sheets, and completing risk assessment tasks. Use data analytics tools to identify trends and anomalies that may warrant further investigation. The early identification of those trends will prove to be valuable for an efficient and timely completion of the audit.
Self-Care
Everyone understands the stress and the pressure that comes with audits in the busy season. However, an exhausted auditor is prone to making mistakes that could be detrimental to the business. It will help you well to manage your stress level by taking regular breaks, exercise, and ensure you don’t forget to properly eat. Meanwhile, while maintaining a healthy work-life balance to avoid burnout might sound like a stretch, doing so will benefit you, your firm, and your clients.
Contingency Planning
We have all been there and know well that the best laid plans seldom do work. Be prudent and anticipate challenges and develop contingency plans to address them through a flexible approach that makes it easy to adjust your plan as needed to accommodate unforeseen issues.