Best Practices for Technical Accounting Compliance and Audit Readiness
If you are in the career of technical accounting, you will likely have to deal with an audit at some point. Did you know that organization and proper documentation practices are crucial to a successful audit? You may have known that, but did you know that there are services that provide audit readiness assessments? Keep reading if you want more tips about technical accounting compliance and audit readiness.
What Do I Need to Know to Follow Technical Accounting Compliance?
If you are in technical accounting, you know that reporting guidelines and procedures are constantly changing. It is the technical accountant’s job to stay on top of these changes and implement them in a timely manner. To be a good, qualifying technical account, there are specific skills that you must possess:
- Standard Accounting Implementation
- Technical Accounting Memos
- Accounting Guidance
- Design Process (This is to address potential technical accounting issues.)
- Organization
- Mentoring (You may be asked to train members of financial and accounting teams.)
- Communication (You will serve as a point of contact for auditors if any technical accounting issues arise.)
- Preparation of annual financing reports
- Prepare any technical accounting memos for audit reviews
Why is Organization So Important for Audit Readiness?
As a technical accountant, you will have a lot of company information at hand. Any of that information could be needed at any time. Organization is vital to avoid being unable to find something and looking incompetent to your employer. What can you do to stay organized and audit-ready?
- Use Digital Storages or a Document Management System: File cabinets, desk drawers, and email inboxes can become cluttered and take up too much time to look through them. Investing in a document management system or a bigger storage USB can eliminate those issues.
- Be Able to Update Procedures Easily: We’ve already established that procedures change and change often in the world of technical accounting. When they do, you need to ensure that your employer will be able to comply quickly. Having a document management strategy will help with this task.pix
- Invest in an Audit Readiness Assessment: An audit readiness assessment is a pre-test to see how well your systems, processes, and documentation are handled. They will also enable you to locate any issues you need to work on. When in doubt, get an assessment.
If you are a player in the technical accounting field, it never hurts to stay on top of the game. This is especially true for technical accounting since it is a profession that changes rapidly. Workshops are an excellent investment in staying in the loop as well.