Close out meetings are a critical part of the audit process. They require auditors and clients to get together once the audit fieldwork is complete to discuss how the audit went, relevant findings and action points. They add value for both parties, with clients benefitting from insights into areas of the business that can be improved, such as financial controls, and auditors getting feedback on their audit findings.
Common challenges both during the audit and for the close out meeting include keeping track of communications: the audit trail, files, exceptions and answers to queries. Circit’s PBC Client Collaboration offers a solution to this by providing enhanced visibility on files (with the possibility to communicate on the file or query level), comprehensive reporting and seamless client collaboration.
Managing Client Expectations
Auditors are often required to perform their audits in a short period of time, to allow clients to file their financial statements as early in the year as possible. This can be especially relevant for larger, or listed companies.
It can be a challenge to manage deadlines on these audits and to ensure that all fieldwork is completed to a satisfactory level. Meanwhile, clients need to balance their internal obligations and ensure they engage with the auditor on their areas of responsibility. Delays in obtaining the relevant information are common and the auditor can’t start without the required information, leading to further delays.
Circit’s PBC Client Collaboration provides detailed, insightful reporting to give the auditor an understanding of the time spent on each client, down to a query level. This data can be very helpful when discussing any overruns with clients during the close out meeting, as the auditor can clearly identify if there were any delays because of the client not responding, or the client not meeting the agreed deadlines.
This data is also very helpful when planning for the following year’s engagement, as it allows the auditor to assign the correct amount of time for each audit section and ensure that the resources are allocated to allow the job to be completed on time. It may also identify a need to increase the time spent on the job or to increase the fee. These conversations can be difficult to have but will be made significantly easier with high quality data to support them.
Visibility
PBC Client Collaboration provides a single and complete access point for sharing documents and collaborating with clients securely. Every communication point is logged and tracked on the audit trail, ensuring complete transparency between the auditor and the client as to the status of the audit queries. At the close-out meeting, both auditor and client are aligned on what must be completed prior to signing the financial statements.
Using a tool like this, the client lead (for example the CFO or Finance Director) can ensure that any outstanding items are assigned to the correct person on their team and that the deadlines are clearly set. Using a more traditional method of managing the PBC list, such as an excel spreadsheet or email, can be very time consuming and lacks a clear, immutable audit trail. With different versions being used and worked on, the chance of miscommunication between the client and the auditor is vastly increased.
Stronger Client Relationships
When the auditor can prepare for the close out meeting with the clear and transparent information collated via Circit’s PBC Client Collaboration, it allows the meeting to focus on value-added services and insights gained by the auditors during the audit.
Since the communication between auditor and client has all taken place on the secure platform, each query and file can be checked and communication on the file level is possible to quickly and efficiently handle exceptions or questions that need to be addressed before the audit can be considered completed.
Using PBC Client Collaboration as a tool to assist with planning future engagements and the close out meeting of the current audit is an efficient way to ensure that all issues are raised and resolved, while fostering stronger client relationships and increased trust in the auditor. Clients are fully engaged and involved in the process, meaning they are aware of any issues before the close out meeting.
Circit’s PBC Client Collaboration
Want to see for yourself how PBC Client Collaboration can streamline your audit close out meeting and the entire audit process by extension? Get in touch to request a personalised demonstration.
