The audit is a critical milestone, but what happens after the reports are filed can define your team’s efficiency and accuracy for the year ahead. At FinQuery, we believe the post-audit phase isn’t just about tying up loose ends – it’s your prime opportunity for strategic improvement. This philosophy drove our recent Post-Audit Playbook Summit: Turning Lessons into Leverage, designed to equip accounting and finance professionals with the tools to excel.
Navigating the post-audit landscape and confronting common audit challenges
The summit brought together a powerhouse panel moderated by FinQuery’s VP of Accounting, Jake Jones, CPA. We were joined by Elliott Benator, CPA (VP, Controller, Cardlytics), Jonathan Sawyer, CPA (Assurance Services Director, Cherry Bekaert), and Matt Fisser CPA (Financial Advisory Services Principal, Embark), who shared experience and unparalleled insights from the front lines of audit and post-audit processes.
Panelists addressed common audit challenges. These included the difficulty of balancing audit demands with core responsibilities, providing comprehensive documentation for technical areas, and the costs and delays from untimely communication with auditors. They also highlighted the risks of disorganization and manual, Excel-based processes, which often lead to errors, inefficiencies, and understated accrued liabilities due to disconnected processes.
“In general, anytime you can use a software and get out of a manual Excel, it’s positive for a multitude of reasons – one of which just being input errors or less common, formula errors. And just the time that it takes to maintain it.” – Jonathan Sawyer
Your actionable recommendations for a stronger future
The experts provided practical, implementable advice to transform these challenges into opportunities:
- Be Proactive: Prepare documentation and anticipate auditor needs based on prior audits.
- Communicate Consistently: Implement regular milestone and status meetings with auditors.
- Set Realistic Expectations: Ensure your team has adequate time for audit requests.
- Develop a Game Plan: Create a clear roadmap for process improvements, even if long-term.
- Automate, Automate, Automate: Transition from manual spreadsheets to specialized software for accuracy and efficiency.
- Empower Internal Champions: Involve your team in software adoption decisions for successful implementation.
- Document Policies Rigorously: Maintain clear records of accounting policies and judgments.
The Post-Audit Mandate: Essential takeaways
The Post-Audit Mandate highlighted essential principles for modern finance functions, emphasizing that proactive communication is paramount, as engaging auditors early on complex transactions mitigates surprises and drives efficiency. Furthermore, automation is the path to precision, with the shift from manual processes to specialized software radically reducing errors and streamlining financial reporting. Finally, continuous improvement is identified as a competitive edge, urging the leverage of audit findings as catalysts for ongoing process optimization to prevent past issues from recurring.
Conquering ASC 842 audits: Your roadmap to smooth sailing
The second session, “Conquering ASC 842: Lessons Learned From Your Audit,” delivered crucial insights for finance and accounting professionals. Our very own Taylor Guthrie, a Lease Accounting Expert with a deep background in audit, laid out a clear roadmap for navigating the complexities of ASC 842 and achieving audit readiness.
Taylor shared the real-life struggles of a mid-sized manufacturer that faced significant audit challenges due to their haphazard approach to ASC 842. Their experience mirrors common pitfalls many companies encounter:
- Lack of Control: From misclassified leases to inconsistent data input and delayed recording, Manual processes invites errors.
- Documentation Disaster: Scattered records meant auditors spent extra time (and extra fees!) sifting through disorganized information.
- Missed Opportunities: Failing to identify embedded leases or properly account for lease modifications led to significant compliance gaps.
The session wasn’t just about identifying problems; it was about providing solutions. Taylor stressed “day two compliance” and offered practical strategies for ongoing success:
- Systematic Lease Management: Implement a robust lease intake process, maintain a comprehensive inventory, and conduct regular internal reconciliations.
- Precision in Practice: Ensure accurate lease classification, payment calculations, and a consistent approach to determining discount rates and lease terms.
- Bulletproof Internal Controls: Establish strong preventative and detective controls to safeguard data integrity and reduce errors.
- Leverage Technology: The biggest game-changer? Lease management software. It automates calculations, identifies critical dates, and generates audit-ready reports, saving countless hours and reducing risk.
Ditch the spreadsheets: Master prepaid & accrual accounting for a flawless audit
If you’re like 70% of organizations, according to our surveys, you’re still battling manual spreadsheets, leading to late bills, missed accruals, and audit nightmares. The urgency to optimize prepaid and accrual expense management processes cannot be overstated; companies shouldn’t wait to address these issues due to the immediate and significant risks to financial accuracy and audit readiness.
In the final session of our summit, former EY auditor and FinQuery Technical Accountant, Rachel Reed, pulled back the curtain on these painful realities. She highlighted how disconnected processes, error-prone manual data entry, and a severe lack of visibility put your financial accuracy at risk. The solution? Automation.
Rachel demonstrated how connecting source documents, automating schedules, and gaining real-time control can streamline financial close and make post-audit reviews a breeze. Organizations shouldn’t delay optimizing these processes because doing so immediately reduces the risk of costly errors, ensures timely and accurate financial reporting, and frees up valuable team time currently spent on manual reconciliation and troubleshooting.
Summary
The FinQuery Post-Audit Playbook Summit offered a compelling reminder: the audit doesn’t mark the end of a process, but the beginning of an opportunity. By internalizing these key lessons, your team can leverage audit insights to build more robust, efficient, and accurate financial operations. Missed the live event? No problem. The entire summit is now available on-demand, so your team can access these invaluable insights anytime, anywhere.
