Audit readiness for non-accountants

How I got here

I have been an auditor my entire professional life and for part of it, I have been an auditee as well. I have experienced audits from both sides, so if audits are not your favorite thing, I get you.

My first experience as an auditee was still early in my career so the audit readiness activities did not go as smoothly as I had anticipated. Here are some hurdles I had to work through to ensure a successful audit: 

• Our company's process for onboarding contractors (including auditors) and granting system access had undergone a significant change. The IT division now mandated a three-week notice period for granting access rights to all contractors, including our auditors, placing us already one week behind schedule.
• Several documents, including policies and procedures within the audit scope, required updating to reflect regulatory changes slated for implementation around the time of the audit.
• The key personnel responsible for providing 80% of the PBC were all scheduled for vacation. You guessed right, it was summer!
• The Unit Head designated as the primary point of contact for the audit faced a family medical emergency, so he was only going to be available for the exit conference.

 I did manage to work through all of this and get the audit on track.

Once I got my arms around the initial hurdles, the real work on the current audit began. The auditors' requests for additional information, follow-up questions, meetings, and clarification calls inundated my already demanding schedule, requiring an additional 2-4 hours of daily commitment to juggle audit-readiness responsibilities alongside my regular workload – sound familiar? 

Despite the rocky start, I gained control of the process and even managed to impress the auditors. Check out their feedback below.

Now with almost 20 years of audit experience both as an auditee and auditor conducting  various types of audits including financial statement audits, quarterly financial reviews for group reporting, IT audits, regulatory compliance assessments, internal control testing, operational audits, tax health-checks, FISMA assessments, I have further refined the audit readiness process to guarantee consistent success. 

My strategy for the audit readiness process works for most types of audit, assessments and reviews and it enables auditees to go from frustrated and overwhelmed to confidently navigating the audit process with minimal interruptions to daily work activities and better working relationships with auditors.

If audits tend to throw you off course too, you've landed in the right spot. Take the quiz to kickstart your journey towards gaining control of the audit process.