The audit year
Six stages, from the planning meeting to the signed report, for a company with a December year end.
Six stages, timed from year end
For a December year end. Most of the work is planned before the year closes, so the weeks after it are short.
1
8 weeks before year end
Planning meeting
We meet your finance team, agree the timetable and send the list of what to prepare.
2
4 weeks before
Interim visit
We walk through your systems and test controls, so less is left for after the year end.
3
Year end
Stock count
We attend the count, recount a sample and note the last delivery notes in and out.
4
6 to 8 weeks after
Fieldwork
Two to ten days on site or remote, testing the figures in the lead schedules.
5
9 weeks after
Clearance meeting
We go through every point we found with you, and what changes in the accounts.
6
10 to 12 weeks after
Signed report
Your board approves the accounts; we sign the report the same day.
Month by month
What we do in each month, and what we need from you then.
Oct
Planning meeting and timetable
You: book the stock count and name a contact
Nov
Interim visit: systems and controls
You: give us access to the finance system
31 Dec
Year end and stock count
You: count, sign the sheets, keep the last delivery notes
Jan
PBC list due
You: send the trial balance and the listed papers
Feb
Fieldwork
You: answer our questions in the shared list
Mar
Clearance meeting
You: agree any corrections to the accounts
Mar
Signed report
You: approve the accounts at a board meeting
A typical timetable (sample). Yours is agreed in the engagement letter.
How to read our working papers
Every figure we test carries one or more marks. The key is the same on every file, so you can see what stands behind each number.
C
Confirmed
Balance agreed to a letter we received direct from the bank or customer
T
Traced
Agreed to the general ledger and the trial balance
V
Vouched
Checked to an invoice, contract or receipt for a sample of items
O
Observed
We attended the year-end stock count and recounted a sample
A
Analysed
Movement on last year compared and explained
I
Inquired
Question asked of management and the answer kept in writing
F
Footed
Column re-added; total agrees
E1 An exception: a difference we found, with a note of what it was and how it was settled.
What we ask you to prepare
Auditors call it the PBC list: prepared by client. You get it at the planning meeting, with a date against each item.
From your finance system
- Trial balance and general ledger at the year end
- Bank statements and reconciliations for every account
- Aged lists of what customers owe and what you owe
- Stock sheets from the count, signed
- Fixed asset register with additions and disposals
From the files
- Board minutes for the year
- New loans, leases and major contracts
- Payroll reports and year-end forms
- Letters from lenders, funders or regulators
- Last year's signed accounts
Tell us who is asking
A lender, a funder or the law usually decides which work you need. Send us the request and your year end; we reply with a fixed quote and a timetable.