Getting ready for an audit can strike fear into the hearts of the most well-organized finance department. It usually signals the start of weeks of working overtime and the unwelcome possibility of missing out on family events and other social activities. Your time is no longer your own! Especially when you factor in the extra effort it takes to respond to requests from auditors once their analysis is underway.
If you find that an approaching audit triggers a reflexive anxiety attack, dependence on manual processes is usually the root cause. Digital document management is a great tool to help you cut audit prep time and make the process itself virtually stress free.
How digitization makes the difference
Describing the intent of the audit and its scope is one of the most crucial first steps your company can take. Before an internal or external audit, your organization should work with the internal or external auditors to outline the procedures that will be used, their timing and the extent of the investigation. Once your team is confident that they’ve established the right goals and put appropriate processes in place, document management capabilities can play a vital role in supporting a favorable outcome.
A document management solution will:
Provide a centralized database where all documents related to the audit are fully searchable and available instantly to authorized personnel.- Organize files and maintain them in a secure, fully searchable system.
- Eliminate catch-up bookkeeping, photocopying and time wasted tracking down missing documents before and during the audit.
- Ensure that auditors have all necessary documentation at the start of the process to facilitate a more efficient audit.
- Enable you to quickly share the right files with colleagues and auditors.
- Help enforce clear guidelines to make sure your company is following industry, state and federal regulations during the whole of the fiscal year.
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Help your company prove compliance by creating a comprehensive audit trail that tracks versions, when a document was created, when a document was changed and who modified it.- Enable you to clearly explain the documents and processes evaluated in the audit and their connection to its findings.
- Ensure you can easily share the results of the audit across the company and incorporate them into current business workflows.
- Make it easy to review last year’s audit process to see where it can be improved.
An article in the Independent Banker reinforces the value of digital document management, “From an audit perspective, most things that are not committed to writing don’t exist....While robust audit procedures may be put into practice, complete detailed documentation supports the comprehensiveness of the procedures employed and the validity of the findings and recommendations.”
Document management provides the tools you need to keep an audit on the right track and ensure success. Now is the right time to take a closer look at its capabilities and benefits.
Main image by HKTreks on Unsplash
