The process of carrying out an audit can sometimes become challenging. However, there is nothing you can do to change what needs to happen. The results are usually taken to the board of directors for a review. The process is not always simple and straightforward. Some tips will make the process smoother during your first audit they include.
Plan ahead
Before the year ends, you should commit your time to prepare for the audit. It would be best if you cleared your schedule to make sure you can attend the audit fieldwork. You should also ensure you communicate with the individuals responsible for undertaking the audit. This provides excellent coordination and makes the process go smoothly. If everyone is sure on their part during the examination, it will help reduce anxiety and frustration. To have a successful audit, you need to treat it like a year-long preparation process. You should make sure that all your schedules and records are up to date, reducing the time taken at the end of the year. It would be best if you also assigned an individual in the financial department to be solely in contact with the independent auditors. You should always maintain constant contact with the independent auditors to ensure the transactions are smooth. This will limit the number of surprises during the audit and allow you the chance to make changes. You should also ensure you have a backup point of contact to ensure that independent auditors are getting accurate information at the appropriate time.
Update your accounting records
Please note that there are new regulatory pronouncements that are sure to affect your audit. Your data should always be up to date because of the different methods used to track data. This is normal because it’s a must to adhere to the newly implemented tax regulations. You should also determine if your personnel require training to familiarize themselves with the new rules’ requirements. To check for new emerging regulatory requirements, you can confirm on the Financial Accounting Boards website.
Create a timeline and assign responsibility
You should make sure you adhere to the auditor’s requests and access work papers together with the schedules. You should seek clarification before you assign listed items to the individual responsible. The assignment of these tasks should also include a due date, and it should be enough time for you to access and correct schedules if need be. It would be best if you concentrate your efforts on the most complicated areas first. The auditors requested items should be well recorded and available to them before the audit date.
Ask questions
Asking questions ensures accurate work is done with no delays. You should always seek clarification before the start of the fieldwork, and this ensures you don’t get a penalty of additional fees. Auditors, especially issues regarding accounting, generally welcome your questions. You are allowed to make other suggestions to auditors’ requests when necessary. It would be best if you also asked for queries to personnel within the organization to gain the information required for preparing footnote disclosures. These questions should be regarding significant accounting estimates, threatened litigation, commitments, and back up plans. All requirements are inaccurately making a footnote disclosure.
Medical billing
Billing audits are a process designed to access the reliability of clinical documentation in your health records. Medical billing is generally submitted to the payers, and this ensures all inappropriate billing practices are resolved and rectified. This not only ensures highlighting of compliance issues but is also a significant benefit to the bottom line. The sources that conduct billing audits include clinics for their medical records and other documentation like consultations, x-rays, and even lab reports. Other data sources include financial and policy-related businesses. Professionals who provide medical billing in Massachusetts provide the best billing practices by increasing client revenue between 8-15%.
Organize data
It is essential to develop a repository of the audit schedules for future reference. It would be best if you also created sub-folders containing critical transactions such as revenue, cash, investments, expenses, fixed assets, and debts. This makes the process of receiving schedules simple and easy to manage. You may be required to password-protect confidential work papers and plans like payroll. It would be best if you considered the possibility of automating particular schedules and work papers for quick preparation of data.
To have a productive end of year audit, you must always be prepared before the scheduled inspection. This effectively saves time and ensures the review takes little time from your company’s working hours.
