Key Takeaways:
- A financial statement audit evaluates whether a company's financials are fairly presented in accordance with applicable accounting standards. An integrated audit also includes an assessment of internal controls over financial reporting.
- Common audit mistakes include late or missing provided-by-client ("PBC") requested submissions, insufficient or unreliable documentation that hinders effective risk assessment, weak internal and IT controls, and errors in applying accounting standards.
- Preparing early, understanding the internal control environment, and training staff can help your company provide relevant and reliable information, which is critical for assessing audit risk and demonstrating compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Financial statement audits are a critical checkpoint for companies, stakeholders, and investors. While the process has its limitations, the goal of an audit is to provide reasonable assurance that the company's financial statements are free of material misstatement (whether due to error or fraud).
However, the audit process is only as effective as the broader environment supporting it — including timely and reliable financial information, a well-resourced accounting function, effective oversight by the board or audit committee, and a clear understanding of the entity's operations and the regulatory landscape of its industry.
Many organizations approach audit season underprepared or unaware of the common pitfalls and complex or nontraditional transactions that can delay the process, increase costs, or raise compliance concerns.
In this article, we explain the financial statement audit process, common mistakes we see companies make during external audits, and best practices that lay the foundation for a smoother audit experience.
Understanding Financial Audits
During a financial statement audit, an independent registered public accounting firm follows generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) and assesses your company's financial records, transactions, and reporting processes. Independent auditors gather and evaluate relevant and reliable evidence to determine whether the financial statements are presented fairly — following generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), international financial reporting standards (IFRS), or another applicable financial reporting framework.
The process typically follows these phases:
- Audit planning and risk assessment: External auditors work closely with company management to understand the operations of the business, identify significant risk areas, and develop an audit strategy that is unique to the organization.
- Internal control evaluation: The auditorassesses the design and operating effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting, often through walkthroughs and targeted testing of key controls. The results of this evaluation directly inform the auditor's risk assessment and the nature, timing, and extent of substantive audit procedures. In an integrated audit, this process also includes gathering information to develop an opinion on the effectiveness of internal controls. Auditors pay particular attention to information technology general controls (ITGCs), which are foundational to the reliability of automated processes and system-generated reports. If the auditors identify material weaknesses, they may need to disclose them in the financial statement footnotes or the auditor's report (depending on the severity and context).
- Substantive testing: The auditor gathers evidence by examining transactions, account balances, and disclosures through sampling, confirmations, and recalculations. Strong internal controls impact the audit team's risk assessment and may allow the team to reduce the amount of substantive testing required.
- Conclusion and reporting: The auditordrafts the opinion letter, communicating findings to management and those charged with governance.
10 Common Types of Mistakes Made in Public Audits
Despite best intentions, many organizations encounter issues during the annual audit that delay timelines, increase costs, or raise red flags. Here's a look at some common mistakes and why they matter:
1. Inadequate Documentation of Internal Controls
Many companies fail to maintain sufficient documentation around their internal control procedures. This lack of documentation makes it difficult for auditors to understand and — if necessary — test the design, implementation, and effectiveness of key controls. As a result, auditors may need to perform additional walkthroughs or expand their substantive testing — potentially increasing audit costs and timelines.
For publicly traded companies, this issue can have additional implications under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Section 404(a) requires management to assess and report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting (ICFR). Section 404(b) requires the independent auditor to attest to and report on management's assessment for accelerated filers.
If the auditors deem internal controls ineffective, management must disclose material weaknesses in its annual filing with the SEC. This can affect investor confidence, internal resource allocation, and external perceptions of the company's governance. These findings may also place added pressure on the accounting team to remediate deficiencies under tight deadlines while still managing the financial close and reporting cycle.
2. Late or Incomplete Audit PBC Requests
Prior to audit fieldwork, the audit team sends a "provided by client" (PBC) list to management outlining the documents and financial data auditors need. Submitting incomplete or delayed items stalls fieldwork and may increase audit fees.
3. Improper Revenue Recognition
Misapplying Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 606 or lacking support for revenue transactions — including cutoff periods around year-end — is a recurring audit issue. Companies often struggle to identify and document performance obligations in their contracts with customers and allocate the transaction price appropriately among those obligations.
These issues are especially common in arrangements involving bundled products or services, where the timing and pattern of revenue recognition may differ by deliverable. Inadequate documentation or inconsistent application of these principles can lead to audit adjustments or the need for expanded testing.
4. Weak IT General Controls
Deficiencies in ITGCs — such as user access management, change management, physical security of IT systems, intrusion detection, and system backup and recovery processes — can compromise the integrity of financial reporting systems and result in control deficiencies or audit findings. Increasingly, cybersecurity risk is also a critical area of concern, particularly as companies face heightened exposure to data breaches and unauthorized access.
In cases where companies outsource key processes or use cloud-based platforms that affect financial reporting, it's important to obtain and evaluate SOC 1 Type 2 reports from service providers. These reports help assess whether the third party's control environment supports reliable financial reporting. Failing to obtain or properly review these reports can result in audit scope limitations or the need for additional procedures.
5. Errors in Lease Accounting
ASC Topic 842 introduced significant changes to lease accounting — increasing complexity in how companies identify, measure, and disclose lease arrangements. Common mistakes include misclassifying leases, failing to identify embedded leases in service or supply agreements, and incorrectly applying accounting treatment for lease modifications and remeasurement events.
Errors can also arise in calculating the right-of-use asset and lease liability, selecting the appropriate discount rate, and preparing the required footnote disclosures. These issues can lead to material misstatements and require substantial audit follow-up — especially when a company maintains a large or decentralized lease portfolio.
6. Inaccurate or Unsupported Estimates
Many key areas in financial reporting rely on management's judgment, especially when it comes to technical estimates such as goodwill impairment, valuation of long-lived assets, fair value of debt or equity instruments, and contingent liabilities. These estimates require a disciplined process of identifying the appropriate valuation method, documenting key assumptions, and evaluating both supporting and contradictory information.
Errors often arise when companies fail to update assumptions based on current market conditions, skip critical steps in the impairment testing process, or use inconsistent inputs across related estimates. A lack of documentation or transparency around the basis of these estimates raises audit concerns and can result in restatements or material weaknesses in internal controls over financial reporting.
7. Failure to Perform Timely Reconciliations
Account reconciliations help ensure accuracy and reliability in financial statements by comparing information in your financial records with third-party support — such as bank statements or loan documents. Delayed or inconsistent reconciliations of bank accounts, intercompany balances, and key general ledger accounts can indicate larger issues with the financial close process.
8. Insufficient Segregation of Duties
In smaller or rapidly growing companies, it's common for individuals to handle multiple steps within a transaction cycle — such as initiating, approving, and recording transactions. This increases the risk of errors and intentional misstatements.
A lack of proper segregation of duties introduces risk at the process level and signals broader weaknesses in the company's control environment (a key component of internal control frameworks). When auditors identify these gaps, they may reduce their reliance on controls and expand the scope of substantive testing — increasing the time and resources required for the audit and potentially causing delays.
Strengthening segregation of duties supports the integrity of financial reporting and reinforces a culture of accountability.
9. Poor Communication Between Financial Reporting and Operational Teams
A disconnect between accounting and other departments — including operations, legal, and procurement — can result in incomplete or misclassified transactions and missed disclosures. This issue is especially common in areas like inventory management, project accounting, and deferred revenue recognition.
It can also impact the identification and disclosure of related party transactions, legal contingencies, and other matters that require input from departments outside of finance. For example, if legal teams do not communicate the existence of pending or threatened litigation, the accounting team may fail to properly record or disclose a loss contingency — resulting in audit findings or misstatements. Clear, documented communication channels between departments are critical for complete and accurate financial reporting.
10. Lack of Readiness for New Accounting Standards
Companies often underestimate the effort required to adopt new standards — such as those related to segment disclosures (ASU 2023-07), income tax disclosures (ASU 2023-09), and business combinations (ASU 2023-05). Late-stage implementation leads to rushed adjustments and audit stress.
Fortunately, many of these issues are avoidable through proper preparation, communication, documentation, and adherence to regulations.
How to Prepare for a Smoother Audit Season
Here are a few best practices to reduce audit risks and improve efficiency in the financial statement reporting process:
- Start early: Preparing for the year-end audit should begin months in advance. Develop and assign internal timelines for PBC deliverables, reconciliations, and close procedures.
- Assess and document internal controls: Clearly document your control procedures. Perform regular controls testing throughout the year and update them to reflect changes in processes or personnel at year-end.
- Invest in training: Your accounting and finance teams should stay current on new standards and audit requirements to reduce the risk of misapplication.
- Leverage technology thoughtfully: Use financial close and compliance tools to streamline workflows, manage documentation, and maintain audit trails.
- Conduct a pre-audit walkthrough: Reviewing key areas of risk, estimates, and controls ahead of time enables your company to address issues before auditors arrive.
- Foster collaboration: Create open channels of communication between auditors, internal accounting functions, IT, operational departments, and the audit committee to minimize misalignment. Collaboration between external auditors and the internal audit team can also be beneficial. However, under the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's new QC 1000 standards, internal auditors are considered "other participants" in the audit, which may affect how their work is evaluated and used. Companies should understand the implications of this designation and ensure internal audit activities are properly documented and aligned with audit objectives.
Be Proactive to Prevent Audit Mistakes Before They Happen
A successful audit is more than a compliance milestone. It's a sign of sound corporate governance. By recognizing common mistakes and addressing them proactively, you can support more accurate and timely financial statements, reduce audit fatigue in your team, and build trust with stakeholders and regulators.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
