The financial year end is when shareholders, directors, and accounts departments draw up their annual financial statements. An audit can be helpful to plan and position your business for future growth.
An auditor checks that the business’s financial statements are complete, up-to-date, and correct. An auditor’s job is to ensure that your bookkeeping activities are above board and that your financial statements reflect the actual financial position of the business. This is a minimum requirement of potential funders who want to invest in your company.
Why you should seriously consider auditing your company:
1) It is a legal requirement for your company to be audited. Tax Compliance is taken seriously, no matter where you are in the world.
2) Auditing your company gives your annual financial statements credibility. This improves investor and shareholder confidence in the company.
3) Audited financial statements will be required when working with banks in applying for loans for capital expansion.
4) A key advantage to auditing your company is to make sure there’s no irregular expenditure, fraud, or embezzlement.
What happens if you fail your audit?
Unfortunately, many business owners only realise the true value of auditing after failing their audit.
If an auditor finds out that the company’s finances are not sound, your business could face legal consequences. This can lead to financial loss, reputational damage, and a loss of confidence from shareholders and investors. So it’s important to incorporate your audit into your yearly planning.
Consider outsourcing your financial statements to a specialist company such as OutsourcedCFO. This way, you have the necessary expertise on call to ensure a stress-free audit, without having to fork out for specialist staff on your payroll.
How to prepare for your audit:
Note the required deadlines, and ensure that your accounting staff are aware of what needs to be ready for each submission date. If your staff don't have the expertise to prepare financial statements, line up the experts before these due dates.
Ensure your accounts are up to date and correct. This means using the latest accounting packages to streamline and automate as many processes as possible. Make sure that your staff realizes the importance of submitting paperwork accurately and on time. Software options like Dext allows you to scan and upload receipts digitally, as this will minimize human error.
What could go wrong?
Closing off your accounts and getting them ready for an audit can be challenging - watch out for the following sticking points:
- Financial records not complete
- Missing or misplaced documents
- Incorrect entries
- Ineffective communication between various departments leading to missing data
- Untrained staff who do not have expert knowledge
Calling in the OCFO experts to assist with your legal audit requirements:
The outcome of an audit is crucial for your business. But it’s a process worth going through as it assures stakeholders that your business is true and fair. To nail any audit process, keep your business financials up to date.
If you don’t have the expertise to finish your audit without a hitch, outsource additional accounting expertise, to help get this year’s audit done on time. Call in OutsourcedCFO and get in expertise to help your team with the preparation of audit packs, answering the audit queries, and anything else required to get the audit over the line.
Financial Statements:
Compiling financial statements on global financial reporting standards is a specialist task. With expert drafting and consolidation expertise, we help you nail your audit requirements.
We love helping groups compile sets of financials, and set you up for a stress-free audit. We provide further support on adjustments, audit queries, and finalization of financial statements. This frees your team to stay focused on the current financial year’s mission, knowing the previous year's is covered.
If your business is facing a sticky audit, or you are not sure of your legal audit requirements, you’ll benefit from our expert accounting team. If you need to know more about how we can help, contact us today for a consultation. Click Here to Contact Outsourced CFO today
