Guide to changing your auditor

The right place to start with evaluating your new audit firm is with evaluation your own organization and understanding your current needs and projecting what your company will need in its next phases of growth.

After you have gleaned the key points from this article, please review the other sections–and the compact podcast series on the importance of innovation in the modern audit-that will walk you through gauging if it truly is time for a change–and, if it is, how to measure and balance your needs with the capabilities of your next firm. Ultimately, exactly how do you transition as gracefully–and successfully–as possible?

Finding the right audit firm for your organization can be a daunting challenge. You are looking for a firm that not only will deliver timely and effective audit services in accordance with independence requirements, but one that also will be a trusted source of relevant financial reporting insights throughout the different phases of your business’ growth.

While many firms can tackle the technical aspects of an audit, those that go beyond will help you anticipate what lies around the corner, identify opportunities and mitigate risks. Such a firm attaches great importance to understanding your business.

Your organization may need from its audit firm deeper industry knowledge, stronger communication, more attention, access to audit partners or a smoother digital audit experience. Whatever the case, it’s crucial that you understand how an audit firm delivers value and would be capable of servicing your growing company.

The right next auditor for you has not just embraced, they have ingested/injected innovation into their DNA, their digital audit ecosystem is now the entry point–literally and figuratively–to a modern audit experience.

After a firm’s digital extensibility–and accessibility to “best of breed” innovation, it will be necessary to assess your own company’s readiness to make a change. What’s important to you? What are your goals and, even more importantly, what are your organization’s aspirations? How do you get the best fit? And–ultimately, what are the best steps to a successful transition?

As businesses increasingly deploy advanced technology to make their processes less time-consuming and more efficient, they expect an auditor that is doing the same by also investing in its own technology to optimize the audit process.

But technology on its own only goes so far. Leaning too heavily on technology may not provide the appropriate level of personal attention or the necessary technical insights.

RSM’s audit delivers human insights powered by technology. Our approach to innovation and technology focuses on three pillars, which we use to increase efficiency, minimize disruption and uncover new information. These pillars are: intelligent automation, data analytics and the digital audit experience.

By bringing together these capabilities, our tech-savvy auditors can deliver audit solutions that are tailored for your business needs, minimize disruption and reveal new insights.

Just as we have curated a compilation of considerations for changing your auditor, you must curate your own reasons for embarking on changing you auditor.

It is not a light undertaking; it takes validating if it truly is time to make a change. Take time to review the other resource materials to development an idea of how to assess your next audit firm–juxtaposed to with your company’s needs, whether they can provide a modern audit, and, how to make the change successfully.

Changing auditors can represent a business opportunity—as long as the transition is smooth. You can achieve the desired gains by cultivating trust and a mutual understanding between your organization’s stakeholders and the new audit firm, and by underscoring the importance of timely audit processes and related communications. After all, superior service has no size constraints, and a frictionless transition only amplifies the opportunities for your business.

A change of this magnitude is most effective when the audit firm has experience transitioning an organization from its previous auditor. Meanwhile, there are steps you can take to ease the switch. From strategically structuring your request for proposal to educating your new audit firm to cultivating chemistry with interpersonal interactions, you have control over whether changing your audit firm accomplishes your objectives and satisfies the needs you identified at the outset.