Accounting, Tax and Audit

Accountants often put in long hours during monthly, quarterly, and yearly close periods, to meet tight reporting deadlines. Automatic accounting entries are a challenge to review for accuracy. And management estimates require a by-hand review of assumptions, calculations, and rationale within the tightly allotted time. Inter- and Intra-legal, and reporting relationships between related entities which are all owned by one company, create complex accounting requirements.

Internal Audits must meet requirements for all five assertions: Completeness, Existence, Valuation, Rights and Obligations, Disclosure and Presentation. Developing accounting controls is complex, involves documentation, analysis, planning, and a change of business rules. Completeness is difficult because it requires finding out about all financial obligations that exist. Systems "should" capture everything, but it's hard to prove in real-time that one has all records, e.g. an invoice a vendor hasn't sent yet, although they have delivered the product. Tax compliance is complicated by complex regulations across every tax jurisdiction in which a company operates. These differing tax rules need to be applied correctly to all relevant transactions a company performs.