Unlocking audit success: Efficiently navigate increasing PCAOB expectations

As Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspections have grown more intense in the last five years and the bar for audit quality has risen, auditors and public companies face mounting pressure to meet these elevated compliance requirements in a way that’s streamlined and efficient. Reducing redundancy, improving management and internal audit documentation efficiency, and ensuring seamless collaboration between internal teams and external auditors are essential strategies for success.

To help reduce audit costs and strengthen the reliability of your financial reporting, your organization can:

• Invest in well-designed controls
• Embrace IT application controls
• Prepare thoughtfully for efficient walkthroughs
• Validate critical data
• Leverage internal audit teams

Our webcast, Unlock a more efficient approach to PCAOB audit success, offered practical, real-world guidance on aligning audit readiness with regulator expectations while reducing time and effort throughout the audit cycle. Here are some key takeaways.

Strengthen management and review controls

Management review controls often face the toughest scrutiny as they’re the decision-making controls for areas requiring significant judgment, such as inventory reserves, forecasted financial information, and impairment analyses. To strengthen these controls:

• Disaggregate Complex Controls. Break down broad review controls into specific, actionable attributes to accurately pinpoint how the control addresses a relevant risk.
• Document Everything in Real Time. Meeting minutes and draft analyses with tracked changes and reviewer comments are invaluable audit evidence.
• Define Clear Triggers. Both quantitative thresholds and qualitative flags should be explicitly identified if further review is needed as part of the control.