How Accounts Payable Audit Software Helps Stress Levels

An audit is one of the most expensive (and stressful!) of all the various types of financial statements examinations.

How it works:
The audit firm will compile a list of documents to be reviewed, and forward it to the company in order to ensure that the audit process can proceed at an organized pace. Once on-site, the documentation is reviewed and transactions are selected for testing.

During this phase, much care is given by the company to ensure that all documentation that is pulled, is also copied in order to assist with the completion of the audit. Once the initial testing is complete, more samples are chosen based on either prior sample results or questions that arise during the testing process.

During the audit, business is still being conducted and day-to-day transactions are being processed. You can imagine the stress that this process brings to the accounting department. Great care is given to ensure that all documentation that is pulled for the audit is a copy. Inevitably, the company will agree to hand over original documentation in order to avoid delays. Once an original is in play, all documentation that has been pulled must be examined before determining if it needs to be filed as an original or shredded as a copy.

A good purchase to pay system will show all invoice history and audit information on one screen. When reporting capabilities allow for a quick ‘copy-paste’ from the audit request list, accounts payable staff are able to produce the audit trail. This includes a PDF of the vendor invoice, GL accounts, approvers, and payment information, and a screen print that is saved to a flash drive.

If the system has drill down capabilities, a user can produce the original P.O. as well as the purchase requisition directly from an invoice screen, where a second screen print can be generated. This not only speeds up the testing process, it provides more detail than the manual pull and copy method.

Below is a quote from Erik Krueger of Plante Moran, where he witnessed the transformation that EchoVera AP Automation brought to one of his clients. The client is one of the leading automotive suppliers of highly engineered plastic injection-molded components.

“When Palette was implemented at a client of the firm, the client was able to very quickly realize efficiencies in the administration of ordering and invoicing for goods purchased and sold. As a result, there was enhanced visibility of documents associated with buying/selling and a more streamlined process in place.” – Erik Krueger CPA, MSA | Associate | Assurance Plante Moran, PLLC www.plantemoran.com

Find out more about EchoVera AP Automation here.