10. Begin working on your schedules well in advance of the audit. And remember, if you have questions, your auditor is just a phone call or email away. 

 9. Keep track of issues you struggled with during the year and communicate those to your auditor. It will help the auditor key in on important areas at the beginning of the audit and prevent surprises down the road. 

 8. Get the confirmations back to the auditors quickly! The more time there is to send these out the better chance we have of getting them back. Every confirmation that’s not returned creates more work for everyone. 

7. Communicate your schedule to the auditors. We understand that your normal responsibilities don’t go away during the audit, and we’ll do everything we can to work around your schedule. 

 6. Post all adjustments to your trial balance before you provide it to the auditor. 

 5. Those schedules we talked about earlier – make sure they tie to the final trial balance you just provided to the auditor. 

 4. Make requested documentation easy to access and provide it to the auditors as soon as possible. 

 3. Be available! Set aside some time on your calendar to answer questions and prepare information requested during the audit. 

 2. Maintain good processes and controls. The more checks & balances you have, the less likely it is that your auditors will find errors. 

 1. Don’t do anything fraudulent or misleading during the year (always a plus). 

The key to success is communication and preparedness. If you apply these steps you should see a reduction in the amount of friction an audit can cause.