Everyday ethics: How auditors manage competing deadlines

As told to Susan Muldowney

Question: “I’m an auditor managing multiple competing deadlines. I have an audit opinion and final report due very soon with a lot of work still to be done, and I’m concerned that I’m running out of time. How do I handle this situation?”

Answer: “Professional scepticism and audit quality must remain paramount, even when facing tight deadlines. 

“While auditors are often faced with pressures of managing multiple competing deadlines, it’s crucial to maintain the integrity of the audit process and not compromise on the thoroughness and quality of your work. 

“It is important to be proactive. This can include considering your options for moving audit procedures forward, such as whether you can undertake early or hard close audit testing. It can also mean getting clients to improve their month and year-end procedures so information can be provided in a timelier manner. 

“As a professional accountant, you must consider your obligations under auditing standards, which in turn includes APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants.”

Answer: “You have an obligation to form an audit opinion, but you cannot do that unless you have everything ticked off. One of the compelling obligations for an auditor is that they must have sufficient and appropriate audit evidence, in order to obtain an appropriate audit opinion. 

“Being proactive means establishing from the outset an audit plan that allows appropriate time to achieve the scope of the audit. 

“To comply with auditing standards, confirm you have sufficient and appropriately skilled resources to undertake the audit before accepting the engagement. 

“This includes considering the allocation of appropriate skilled resources to match the engagement requirements and timing of agreed audit deadlines across your client base before taking on new clients. 

“If you need to bring on contractor or short-term staff to help meet the year-end demands, you need to ensure they have the appropriate skills and knowledge and that you provide appropriate supervision and review of their work. Of course, you can’t forget to ensure they are independent of your client.”

Answer: “Communicate promptly with your audit client and other relevant parties as soon as possible to discuss the situation. Transparency about the challenges you’re facing is essential.

“Start by focusing on the most significant risk areas and material items. Ensure you gather sufficient appropriate evidence for these key aspects and allow a buffer for unexpected technical accounting issues or delayed client information. These factors can add significant time to your audit completion workload.

“You could also consider utilising efficient audit techniques such as data analytics and other technology-enabled audit procedures to enhance efficiency without sacrificing effectiveness.

 

"Remember, as an auditor, your primary obligation is to maintain professional scepticism and ensure the quality and integrity of the audit. Meeting deadlines is important, but never at the expense of compromising your professional standards or the reliability of your audit opinion."

 

“In a worst-case scenario, if you believe the deadline cannot be met without compromising audit quality, discuss the possibility of extending the timeline with the client. 

“Remember, as an auditor, your primary obligation is to maintain professional scepticism and ensure the quality and integrity of the audit. Meeting deadlines is important, but never at the expense of compromising your professional standards or the reliability of your audit opinion.

“If time constraints consistently impact your ability to perform high-quality audits, reassess your firm’s resource allocation and engagement acceptance policies for future audit seasons.”