A free zone audit signed in seven weeks

The company's free zone licence renewal depends on audited accounts. For two years running the audit had dragged into the fourth month after year end, and the licence was renewed with days to spare.

Each year the previous auditor sent new requests in the final weeks, and the finance team of three spent most of the first quarter answering them.

• Agreed the timetable and the full request list in the first month of the financial year.
• Tested controls over freight billing and payments during the year, not after it.
• Ran fieldwork remotely in the two weeks after year end, with one visit to the warehouse for the stock count.
• Ranked the findings in the management letter by their cost to the business.

The audit report was signed seven weeks after year end, and the licence was renewed a month early. The finance team spent eleven days on audit requests, down from most of a quarter.

Three findings on freight billing were fixed before the next year started, recovering revenue that had been going uninvoiced.