You think you have your bases covered for the next audit. But chances are your boss doesn’t have the same faith in you. That’s the learning from a recent survey by Deloitte. The company asked executives to rate their organizations based on how ready they are for audits or other “regulatory investigations.” Only 20% said they thought their troops were “very ready.”

Worse news for Accounting pros: 24% of execs said their companies are at a much greater risk for such an investigation than they were just a year ago. Given the economic climate — and people’s feelings about it — it seems certain that some companies are bound to get more scrutiny in the near future. And coming up short of good answers could lead to not only financial or legal action — it could leave your company with the proverbial egg on its  face.

How to get ready

One bright spot from the survey: 60% of company execs agreed that self-reporting results of internal audits could help identify problems while they’re still fixable and/or mitigate the damage from other investigations.

If you don’t already have self-audits scheduled, now’s the time to get the ball rolling. Even if you’re already sure your procedures and books are as tight as a drum, a successful self-audit can give you two other important benefits:

• proving to upper management that you are ready for the “real” audit, and
• finding errors, cash-drains and other ways to potentially save money down the road.

Tell us: Do you think your company’s ready for an audit or investigation? Is upper management’s skepticism warranted? Sound off in the comments.

Tags: A/P, Accounting, Audits, Best practices, Communication, Cost cutting, Economic outlook, Error prevention, Fraud prevention, Internal controls, Payroll