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How directors and committees can get the most out of a financial audit
It can be easy to think of a financial audit as a box your organisation has to tick. If purely satisfying compliance requirements is your way of thinking, then you’re missing out on an important opportunity to improve your financial systems and strategic planning – i.e. greater success moving forward!
With the right lens, audits have the potential to highlight opportunities and ensure you avoid financial risk.
So how can you be proactive and get the most out of your next financial audit?
Communicate with your auditor
When we work with clients, we always recommend keeping an open line of communication with our team. When preparing your audit, we like to know that you understand: our audit plan, what’s needed from you, your governance structure and your staff, and that you have the opportunity to address any of your own questions or concerns.
Likewise, throughout your audit, it can be useful for management, directors or relevant committees (e.g. finance, audit and risk) to be available to provide any additional information or insight as required – this can help to keep the audit to schedule and understand client assessed risks.
Share your own findings
Many directors and management believe that the audit is completely in the hands of the independent auditor. The truth is, you can ask us to investigate specific areas or problems.
As well as the standard audit documentation you would expect to supply for audit (we will provide a checklist), you might also highlight problems you’ve identified, what action you’ve already tried, and your ideas on how to continue addressing them. As an independent auditor, we can explore the area and further develop recommendations for improvement.
Review the past but look forward to the future
An audit that results in numerous recommendations can initially feel disheartening – perhaps like you’ve failed a test. It’s important to remember that an audit is not personal or judgemental, but instead seeks to provide valuable recommendations to improve internal financial controls and integrity.
An optimistic outlook will help to remember that adopting recommendations can help your organisation with streamlined processes, efficiencies and good practice recommendations in areas of governance, fraud prevention, financial internal controls and overall financial processing. An auditor who is a good fit for your organisation should feel like a trusted independent advisor seeking out the best for your financial systems and regulator compliance. At Dickfos Dunn Adam, we value proactivity and strive to provide valuable recommendations for your organisations financial needs.
To learn more about getting the most from an audit in your specific business, please get in touch with our expert team.