From gathering financial data to ensuring compliance, audit preparation can be stressful for businesses of all sizes. However, with the right tools and strategies, businesses can streamline the process.

At Fusion, our CPAs have found that businesses that make use of reliable accounting software are better geared for successful audits.

Enter NetSuite. Bringing your business the functionality needed to navigate audits seamlessly. In this article, we’ll look into its key features and delve into why it aids businesses to tackle audits effectively.

Why your business must be audit-ready

Having up-to-date financial records is not just necessary for good housekeeping. Impeccable accounting records also make for a smoother audit process. Moreover, organized records demonstrate credibility and transparency to regulatory bodies.

Conversely, poor audit preparation can put you at risk of penalties, reputational damage, and more. Additionally, failed audits can put your stakeholder’s trust in jeopardy.

How NetSuite can help

NetSuite offers a basket of functions that you can tailor to the financial needs of your business. Some of the key features for audit support include the following:

• Real-time financial reporting. By providing instant access to accurate and up-to-date financial data, NetSuite allows you to generate comprehensive reports quickly. This will empower audit teams to have timely access to the information they need, streamlining the audit process and reducing the risk of errors.
• Capable audit trail functionality: NetSuite allows businesses to track changes made to financial data in real time. This means that you gain access to a detailed history of all transactions and modifications., enabling your audit team to trace the flow of information and verify the integrity of financial records. With NetSuite’s audit trail, you can maintain transparency and ensure compliance.
• Role-based access controls: This feature provides an additional layer of security and data integrity during audits. By assigning specific access permissions to users, NetSuite ensures that only authorized personnel can handle sensitive financial information. This helps to safeguard the integrity of your financial records.

Streamlined documentation 

NetSuite offers powerful features for streamlining documentation, making audit preparation more efficient.

• NetSuite offers centralized document management. Businesses can organize important financial documents in a secure, centralized repository. This eliminates the need for manual document storage and ensures that audit teams have access to relevant documentation in one place.
• With NetSuite, your record-keeping is automated. From transactional data to compliance documentation, NetSuite automatically generates and maintains records, reducing the burden on finance teams and minimizing the risk of oversight or omission.

Preparing for audits 

NetSuite equips businesses with the tools and capabilities needed to prepare for both internal and external audit, in the following ways.

• Internal audits: Your finance team can leverage NetSuite’s analytics to identify areas of risk or inefficiency, and implement corrective actions. With customizable audit trails and role-based access controls, you can ensure transparency and accountability within your team.
• External audits: You can use NetSuite’s real-time reporting and document management features to give auditors access to accurate financial information. Additionally, NetSuite’s audit trail functionality allows you to verify the integrity of financial records, simplifying the audit review process. This can help you streamline external audits and demonstrate commitment to transparency and compliance.

Best practices for using NetSuite in audit preparation

Our CPAs site the following best practices to help you maximize the effectiveness of NetSuite as your business prepares for audit:

• Regular data reviews and reconciliations. By conducting periodic checks and reconciliations, businesses can identify and resolve discrepancies or errors promptly. This will help to reduce the risk of issues during audits. To help in this regard, NetSuite’s reporting and analytics capabilities make it easy to review financial data and identify areas that require attention.
• Maintaining up-to-date system settings. Keeping NetSuite configurations and settings current is crucial to ensure the system’s effectiveness in audit preparation. Businesses should regularly review and update system settings. This includes checking access controls, workflows, and compliance settings, to align with evolving business needs and regulatory requirements. By maintaining up-to-date system settings, your business can enhance data accuracy, security, and compliance.
• Training staff on NetSuite audit features. Our CPAs recommend that businesses invest in training to educate finance teams on how to leverage audit features effectively. At Fusion our CPAs are NetSuite-certified and train our clients on how to generate audit reports, utilize audit trails, and implement internal controls within NetSuite. By empowering staff with the necessary skills and knowledge, businesses can enhance audit readiness and ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations.

Leveraging NetSuite support 

At Fusion CPA, we understand the importance of support and resources when it comes to using accounting software efficiently, especially for audit preparation. Our team offers expert guidance on NetSuite functionality, ensuring that clients have access to the tools and knowledge needed to navigate audits. 

Partnering with us can be beneficial for many reasons. Firstly, our CPAs are certified and experienced professionals when it comes to regulation, industry best practices, and more. We work closely with our clients to ensure a seamless audit experience. We also have many NetSuite-specific resources available to help you. Contact us for help.

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This blog article is not intended to be the rendering of legal, accounting, tax advice, or other professional services. We base articles on current or proposed tax rules at the time of writing and do not update older posts for tax rule changes. We expressly disclaim all liability regarding actions taken or not taken based on the contents of this blog as well as the use or interpretation of this information. Information provided on this website is not all-inclusive and such information should not be relied upon as being all-inclusive.