Earlier this month, I attended a key UK industry event: The Alternative Accountancy Summit. The dust has settled and I’ve now had time to thoroughly mull over how it went. Well…
You know those industry events where you show up, sip bad coffee, feel exhausted having hit 25,000 steps a day, avoid the free-loaders with overstretched SWAG bags and listen to people talk about ‘innovation’ while secretly scrolling LinkedIn? Yeah, this wasn’t that.
The Alternative Accountancy Summit was a breath of fresh, collaboration-fuelled air, and I left with a notebook full of game-changing insights and many amazing new connections (OK and a few free pens).
Audit firms, usually sworn rivals in the gladiator arena of business compliance, actually talking to each other. Sharing insights. Comparing struggles. Not treating each other like enemies in an ancient audit war. Wild, right?
Instead of the usual “I’ll just nod and pretend my firm has this all figured out” vibe, people were real. They admitted the challenges. They debated solutions. They actually helped each other.
Lesson learned? Find events where people actually talk and share about their issues instead of just flexing their firm’s ‘cutting-edge approach.’ You might walk away with real solutions instead of just another tote bag.
Most conferences feel like speed dating, except instead of finding love, you find yourself dodging sales pitches from overly enthusiastic vendors. This one? Different story.
Here’s the game-changer: Sponsors paid for EVERYTHING! Hotels, food, the works. Meaning auditors didn’t have to drop serious cash just to be there, and vendors didn’t have to chase them down like over-caffeinated sales reps.
Instead of the usual “avoid eye contact before they try to sell me something” feeling, auditors were actually open to chatting. No awkward sales push. Just real conversations about how different solutions could help. (Spoiler alert: The Audit Toolbar was a hot topic. Wink.)
I left the summit with one major realisation: accounting is changing, and the firms that embrace collaboration, innovation, and efficiency are the ones that will win.
It’s not about working harder, it’s about working smarter. The future belongs to those who rethink the way they audit.
And if you’re looking for a smarter way to handle audits? Well, we might know of a certain Audit Toolbar that’s got your back.
There are many closed-door conversations on the vendor and supplier side of Accounting and Auditing that whisper frustrating thoughts that Accountants and Auditors might be a little apathetic and a bit “meh” about embracing change and innovation…“we will take a look but we’re too busy right now”. You remember that cartoon right – the one where the cavemen were so busy dragging their trolley on square wheels that they didn’t have time to look up and see the round wheel being proffered?
There are just too many metaphors and cliches to demonstrate this point, but it is a fact that change is inevitable and by embracing this, what’s new today, eventually will become the norm in the future. Make sure you’re a first mover not a laggard.
Here’s the scoop. There really are incredible innovations in audit workflows and huge gains to be had. Many saw this at the event but if you don’t step forwards, you will remain a follower not a leader.
Outside of cheerleading how The Audit Toolbar can change the audit game, many of my conversations at the Summit were simply about my practical experience and advice to support audit firms’ performance. Here’s a taster:
Auditing is like assembling IKEA furniture, if you don’t have all the pieces, you’re in for a world of pain. Here are my best hacks to keep things smooth and avoid unnecessary suffering:
Ever started an audit section with only half the required documents? Of course you have. You work on it for a bit, hit a dead end, switch to another section, then revisit it weeks later only to spend an hour remembering what the heck you were doing. That’s a time-wasting black hole.
My rule? Don’t touch a section until you have 100% of the documents you need. No exceptions. More efficiency. Less “Wait, where did I leave off?” moments.
Auditors love to call a section ‘done’ when it’s almost done. Just a missing document here, a pending query there. No big deal, right? Wrong.
Now you (and your manager) will have to come back and review it again. And again. And again. It’s like reheating leftovers until they’re completely unrecognisable.
My take? A section is only ‘done’ when it’s fully wrapped up with a bow on top. One final review. No return trips. No rework. Just done.
Want to shave hours off your audit? Teach your clients how not to waste your time.
Most audits get stuck in a never-ending loop of “Can you send us this?” followed by “Oh, that’s not quite what we need” followed by “Oops, forgot to attach it”, “ and here’s some more” or “this one is more up to date” and so on… you get the point.
Smart firms now run pre-busy-season webinars to walk clients through exactly what “audit-ready” means. The result? Less back-and-forth. Less frustration. More time for things that actually matter.
TL;DR: Work smarter, train your clients, and stop half-finishing audit sections. Oh, and maybe check out The Audit Toolbar. Just saying.
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It’s the ultimate guide to surviving audit season with your sanity (and spreadsheets) intact.
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