End Auditing Stress with These Tips
That notorious A-word usually elicits a similar response from accountants and controllers—and we’re sure you can guess what it is. While the auditing process may never be enjoyable, it can definitely be made quicker and easier. Curious how? Read on to see how you can reduce the time and work required to prepare for an audit.
Ensure Compliance
If you feel the thousands of different sales tax jurisdictions (split up in baffling ways) are impossible to get a grasp on, you’re not alone. And with changes made each year, sales tax is indeed very complicated. One accountant friend of an Altec employee recently admitted to a common practice: “There’s no possible way we can accurately calculate sales tax with the time and bandwidth we have, so we estimate an average and hope it balances out.” That might create a troublesome situation should the company get audited. The fear of not passing an audit and having to pay heavy fines is not fun.
You can eliminate audit risk and ensure that your company always meets compliance by looking into sales tax automation software like AvaTax. Avalara’s solution instantly delivers the proper calculation based on precise geo-location in the 13,000+ sales tax jurisdictions in the United States. There’s no reason to take a chance when there is a solution that will correctly do the work for you.
Easily Access Backup Documentation
Audits often eat up so much of your time because gathering required backup documentation is a difficult accomplishment. Altec knows firsthand that companies must get creative in storing files: in cabinets and boxes, parking lot sheds, warehouses or across the country at other office locations. Finding a document in a shed already takes extra time. Now, what if that file is lost, misfiled or damaged (remember the customer hit by a Category-3 tornado)?
Searching for and recreating lost documents is a waste of your time. Storing documents in an integrated document management solution, on the other hand, will prevent those issues. You will be able to access the documents immediately and from any location, and you will be able to see a detailed history of who has accessed and edited each file. With such tools at your fingertips, you can collect documents in a matter of minutes and simply give your auditor a CD or flash drive! We’ve received wonderful feedback from customers who really appreciate not having to grant auditors full access to company files.
Auditing doesn’t have to take away from your team’s productivity. Equip your company with the right solutions, and not a larger headcount, to save time and money and successfully complete a stress-free audit (how’s that for an oxymoron?).
If you’re interested in more information from Avalara or Altec, let us know!
