Field Notes · 2026-01-09
When a pre-audit readiness review pays for itself
Signs that your closing package needs a dry run before the statutory auditor arrives.
First-time audits, newly hired controllers, and companies that switched ledger software mid-year are the usual candidates for a readiness review. The goal is not to replace the statutory auditor; it is to reduce the volume of basic queries that stall fieldwork.
We test whether revenue cut-off schedules tie to shipping records, whether fixed-asset registers match the general ledger, and whether deferred tax workings reconcile to temporary differences. Gaps are listed with owners and due dates before the formal engagement begins.
Companies with stable teams and clean prior-year files often skip this step. Those recovering from staff turnover rarely regret spending two weeks on the dry run.
If your parent company already sends a detailed reporting checklist, we map our readiness work to that list so you are not preparing two parallel packages.