Readiness assessment
Review the requirement, timeline, close process, trial balance, prior reporting, available documentation, team capacity, and responsibility gaps.
Audit Readiness
Prepare your company for an external audit — before fieldwork begins.
Turn a demanding external-audit requirement into an organized preparation process, with the records, schedules, documentation, and team coordination ready before fieldwork begins.
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A clear division of responsibilities
Readiness support is separate from the external audit.
John W. Halloran CPA, P.C. does not perform external financial-statement audits. We prepare management and the finance team for an audit performed by a separate independent CPA firm, which is responsible for its procedures, conclusions, and report.
When readiness support may be useful
Preparation for a higher evidence standard.
This service is designed for privately held companies facing a defined external requirement and seeking hands-on preparation support. The need often arises when the company’s accounting process was built for routine reporting rather than the documentation, schedules, and coordinated responses an external financial-statement audit requires.
Audit Readiness is distinct from Internal Audit, which consists of management-focused reviews of risk, processes, and controls. For companies preparing more broadly for lender, investor, or buyer scrutiny, see Financial Readiness.
If this is your company’s first requirement, read Preparing for your company’s first external audit. If the request list has already arrived, use our guide to organizing an external auditor’s PBC requests before fieldwork.
Often a strong fit when
- A first external audit requirement has a defined deadline.
- Account reconciliations or supporting schedules are incomplete.
- Documentation is dispersed across people, systems, or locations.
- The finance team is already occupied with the close and daily work.
- A request list has revealed unclear responsibilities or missing support.
- Management needs a structured view of preparation status and open items.
What a readiness engagement may include
Build the support the external requirement calls for.
The scope is shaped around the requirement, timing, condition of the accounting records, available internal capacity, and information requested by the separate CPA firm.
Records & supporting schedules
Account reconciliations, roll-forwards, account analyses, supporting documentation, and organization of requested information.
Financial reporting & documentation
Financial-statement and footnote preparation support, accounting-policy documentation, and assistance addressing identified accounting or documentation gaps within the agreed scope.
Request coordination
A clear division of responsibilities, request tracker, internal status reporting, and coordination of information provided to the separate CPA firm during its work.
How the engagement works
A structured preparation process before and during fieldwork.
Define the requirement
Understand what is driving the external audit, the expected dates, the selected firm, and known information requests.
Assess the current state
Review records, close procedures, reporting, documentation, responsibilities, and unresolved items, then agree on priorities.
Prepare the agreed support
Work with management and the finance team on the schedules, reconciliations, documentation, and reporting support included in scope.
Coordinate requests
Help management organize responses, maintain status, and coordinate requested information with the separate CPA firm throughout fieldwork.
When a first audit is approaching
A first external requirement arrives while the finance team is already at capacity.
When the finance team must prepare for a first external financial-statement audit while still running the monthly close, the work can begin with a readiness assessment and move into reconciliations, supporting schedules, policy documentation, financial-statement preparation support, and request coordination. Management gains a clear preparation plan and a documented view of what remains open.
Before we begin
Does your firm perform the external financial-statement audit?
No. John W. Halloran CPA, P.C. provides readiness, preparation, and coordination support. A separate independent CPA firm performs the external financial-statement audit and is responsible for its procedures, findings, conclusions, and report.
Can you work with the external CPA firm we have selected?
Yes, subject to the agreed scope and management's authorization. We can help organize requested information and coordinate communications. The separate CPA firm independently determines its procedures and requests.
When should readiness work begin?
Readiness work should begin once the requirement and expected timing are known. The necessary lead time depends on the condition of the records, the complexity of the company, the close process, and the information requested. An initial assessment helps establish priorities and scope.
What if our accounting records need cleanup first?
The readiness assessment can identify reconciliations, corrections, or documentation that require attention. That work may be included in the readiness scope or coordinated through Client Accounting Services, depending on its extent and timing.
What remains management's responsibility?
Management remains responsible for the company's accounting records, financial statements, internal controls, representations, approvals, and business decisions. We prepare agreed support for management's review and acceptance.
How is the engagement scoped and priced?
We consider the external requirement, expected timing, number of entities, condition of the records, available internal capacity, and known information requests. We then provide a written proposal describing responsibilities, deliverables, timing, and fees.
Make the audit requirement manageable.
Share what is driving the audit, the deadline, and where the finance team is stretched. We’ll discuss how to organize the work before requests begin to pile up.
Prepare for the External Audit