(Expert Q&A) The Strategic Audit: Planning Now For A Stress-Free Start To The New Year (Video)

In this expert Q&A, we recently sat down with Helen Mason to explore key challenges and strategies for tackling this year's audit. Helen emphasizes that to avoid a chaotic first quarter or potentially late filings, organizations must prioritize proactive planning, realistic resource allocation, and early engagement with auditors on complex technical accounting issues. The goal is to transform the audit from an annual source of burnout into a streamlined, value-creating exercise.

Q: Why is it crucial for companies to engage with auditors weeks or months ahead of an annual audit?

A: For this year's audit, we have an interesting regulatory landscape, and many companies have waited to conduct major analyses and start conversations with auditors. Now is really the time to speak with auditors, meet with them, and get your game plan for the annual audit in place.

Often it's easy for companies' accounting and finance teams to just get into the weeds. They think, "We'll talk to the auditors later. We'll wait till after the holidays," because they're trying to get the books closed and focus on that. By doing that, a lot of companies are not able to close the books and focus on some technical accounting-related matters that have happened during the year in the way that the auditors want them to.

Strong audit and client partnership throughout the year is a huge game-changer for many companies, and it's key to getting their audit done in a timely fashion. Really getting to know exactly what the auditors expect means you're not doing too much or too little. You're hitting the mark out of the gate, and that can really put you ahead of the game going into year-end close.

Q: Are companies facing new risks related to audit deadlines?

A: Ever since COVID, we've observed some instances where banks, lenders, and investor groups have been okay with audits not getting done on time, where perhaps bank waivers get issued for audits that are going a little bit past the normal deadline. But, as we get further away from a lot of the disruption that we saw post-COVID, banks and investors are a lot less likely to issue waivers in the current environment. So, for finance and accounting leadership teams to avoid having that discussion, it means you need to ensure you're working with the auditors to get ready without needing to have a late audit deadline discussion.

Q: How can accounting and finance leaders make sure their teams are equipped for audit season?

A: Resource allocation and preparation for audits is a conversation that all companies should be having right about now. I think the leadership teams in accounting and finance roles need to be very honest with themselves about what it takes to get an audit done on time.

Oftentimes, we hear, "Someone's on maternity leave," or, "Somebody gave their resignation with less than two weeks' notice." Just thinking that you can make it work for year-end close and the audit is not the right strategy. I acknowledge that these challenges also involve budgetary conversations, but we know that it's imperative to take a real, honest look at who you have on the team going into year-end close.

Just spreading more work over the same amount of people yields the same outcome every year: you've got a burned-out accounting and finance team, you've got auditors knocking down the door waiting for deliverables, and you end up running really tight against your audit deadline when you could avoid that chaos by managing resource constraints ahead of time.

Also, if companies know that they will have resourcing issues heading into the first months of the year, really getting ahead of that before the first quarter (by enlisting help in November or December) is key. The companies that get folks in the right seats before the holidays are far better set up for some of the chaos that happens January through March. By contrast, when you call someone like Riveron asking for additional help, such as interim controller support, that type of request is easier to fill if you've started that discussion earlier than January and aim to have all of your key players in place before the holiday season.

Q: What is the technical accounting "hot topic" that companies are waiting too long to address?

A: When we think about audit season and the hot topic items that we are seeing our clients face this year, number one is waiting a little bit too long to really integrate and account for any M&A activity throughout the year.

As we know, there's a ton of work that goes into closing a deal. We see the greatest audit success, especially related to M&A integration, when folks are handling that immediately after deal close, and really bringing the auditors along for the ride as much as possible.

Q: How does third-party support solve the dual problem of burnout and M&A complexity?

A: Involving a third party to manage some of the day-to-day aspects during the annual audit really allows your high-performing accounting and finance folks to live in the new year. They don't have to spend the first three to four months of the new year living in the past trying to get the audit done.

You start the year off on such a great foot when you're able to keep up in Q1 of the new year with day-to-day accounting, and many times, bringing in support for the audit allows you to do just that.

One of the biggest benefits to our clients of having an external guide to the audit is acknowledging not everyone in an accounting and finance organization at our clients has been in public accounting before. I think there's a real nuance to having support from someone who has been an auditor and managed audits from the other side. An independent third party that has sat in that seat before can really help cut through a lot of the nuance and get to the right answers for the company and get the auditors what they need much more quickly.

Q: What is Riveron's ultimate goal in providing audit support?

A: Bringing in a third party to help support in getting ready for the audit, and especially throughout the audit cycle, really takes some of the pressure off of high-performing folks in the accounting and finance organization so that they aren't getting burned out on that annual audit cycle.

Oftentimes, when Riveron is engaged before or during the audit cycle, we are brought in for one year, during which we help set the stage and really show what a good audit process looks like. Form there, we enable in-house teams to take that guidance and those new processes and ways of thinking into the future. Our vision here for audit readiness and audit support really is to leave your team in a better place than when we came. We are always here to support the success of folks in the audit and beyond.

Some interview responses have been edited for brevity or clarity.

Watch the full video here:

Key Takeaways: Your Game Plan for a Successful Annual Audit

The discussion highlighted several immediate and long-term strategic actions accounting and finance leaders can take now to ensure a smoother, on-time audit and a less chaotic Q1.

• Act now: Do not delay conversations with auditors until after the holidays; early engagement is critical for navigating complex technical accounting issues.
• Prioritize resource allocation: Honestly assess staffing needs well in advance (before the holidays to set your team up for Q1 success), looking for any gaps where securing necessary interim support can prevent team burnout.
• Don't rely on waivers: Post-COVID leniency is ending; banks and investors are far less likely to grant late audit deadline waivers.
• Consider M&A accounting impacts immediately: Integrate and account for M&A activity right after the deal closes, not during the high-pressure audit cycle.
• Pull in outside expertise: An independent third party (especially one with ex-auditor/Controller experience) cuts through nuance and speeds up resolution, keeping your annual audit on track and letting your internal team focus on the new year's strategic initiatives.

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