§ 00 · Knowledge

The audit readiness checklist.

Ahmad Al Hinaiti·Founder, Daftar Advisory·30 August 2026

An audit does not run long because the auditor is slow. It runs long because the file was not ready on the first morning.

Almost every overrun starts the same way. The trial balance is still moving. A schedule agrees to the ledger but not to last year. A judgment everyone remembers making has never been written down, so it has to be reconstructed from memory, in a meeting, in the middle of fieldwork. None of that is difficult work. It is just work that costs three times as much when it happens with an audit team waiting.

What follows is 36 checks in six groups, in the order we work through them. Sections A and B are the base: they have to be true before anything else is worth doing. Section C is the one teams underestimate. Section E is the cheapest win on the page.

This is preparation, not assurance. Daftar is a non-attest practice, we do not audit the files we help prepare, and your auditor decides what evidence they need.

§ 01 · The checklist

A. The close and the trial balance

Nothing else on this list survives a trial balance that is still moving. Fix the base first.

A/01Final trial balance agreed to the general ledger, with a stated cut-off and no entries posted after it outside a documented log.
A/02Opening balances agreed to the prior year signed financial statements, line by line, including any prior period adjustment.
A/03Every bank account reconciled to statement, with reconciling items aged, explained, and cleared where they should be.
A/04Suspense, clearing and holding accounts cleared to nil, or the residual explained and supported.
A/05Intercompany balances agreed both ways and eliminated, with differences resolved rather than parked.
A/06Cut-off tested either side of the reporting date for revenue, purchases, and accruals, with the sample retained.
A/07Manual journal listing for the period, with the largest entries and anything posted outside normal hours ready to explain without being asked.

B. Supporting schedules

One schedule per balance that carries judgment, each agreeing to the ledger and each showing its own workings.

B/01Fixed asset register agreed to the ledger, with additions, disposals, and the depreciation charge reconciled to the movement.
B/02Lease schedule recomputed under IFRS 16, with the incremental borrowing rate documented and the reasoning for it retained.
B/03Inventory count sheets, the valuation basis, and the obsolescence provision with the data behind it.
B/04Receivables ageing tied to the ledger, with the expected credit loss model, its inputs, and the evidence for the loss rates applied.
B/05Payables listing and accruals schedule, with the basis for each accrual rather than a prior year figure rolled forward.
B/06Provisions schedule showing opening, movement and closing, with the evidence supporting each estimate.
B/07Borrowings schedule with maturity analysis, covenants, and the covenant position measured at the reporting date.
B/08Equity movement covering share issues, dividends declared and paid, and every reserve.

C. Judgments and estimates

This is where audits slow down. Not because the number is wrong, but because the reasoning was never written down.

C/01A short memo for each significant judgment, stating the conclusion, the alternatives considered, and why they were set aside.
C/02Going concern assessment covering at least twelve months from the expected date of approval, with the cash flow forecast and its assumptions attached.
C/03Impairment indicators considered and documented, including where the conclusion was that no impairment was needed.
C/04Revenue recognition policy tested against the actual contracts in the period, not against the policy as written last year.
C/05Related party listing confirmed with those charged with governance, covering transactions, balances, and terms.
C/06Contingent liabilities and legal matters listed, with the position confirmed in writing by counsel.

D. Controls and process evidence

The auditor is testing whether the control operated, not whether it exists on paper. Evidence of review is the part most often missing.

D/01Delegation of authority current, approved, and matching the approvals that actually happened during the period.
D/02Bank mandates and payment approval limits reconciled to what the bank has on file.
D/03Segregation of duties over payments, payroll and journal posting, with the conflicts that remain identified and compensated.
D/04System access rights reviewed for leavers, joiners and role changes, with the review evidenced and dated.
D/05Reconciliations showing evidence of review as well as preparation, by someone other than the preparer.
D/06Change log for the accounting system covering the period, including configuration changes and who approved them.

E. The request list

The PBC list is the single biggest driver of how long fieldwork runs. Answering it in advance is the cheapest thing on this page.

E/01Request the PBC list before the fieldwork date rather than receiving it on the first morning.
E/02One named owner and one date against every item, agreed with the owner rather than assigned to them.
E/03Recurring items from last year answered and filed before the auditor asks for them again.
E/04Evidence in a single indexed folder, named so an item can be found by its reference without a phone call.
E/05An open items register with owner and status, updated daily during fieldwork and shared with the audit team.

F. Group and reporting

Where there is a group, the consolidation is usually the last thing ready and the first thing questioned.

F/01Consolidation working showing eliminations, non-controlling interests, and the translation of foreign components.
F/02Uniform accounting policies confirmed across components, with any departures identified and adjusted.
F/03Disclosure checklist run against the standards actually in issue for the reporting period.
F/04Draft financial statements circulated to those charged with governance before fieldwork closes, not after.

§ 02 · Take it with you

The working file

Audit readiness checklist

All 36 checks as a workbook, with owner, status and evidence columns left blank for your team. Yours to keep, and to run again next year without us.

Download the checklist (XLSX)

The page prints cleanly as well, if a paper copy is what gets it round the table.

§ 03 · What this does not cover

Two things are deliberately absent. The first is anything specific to your framework beyond IFRS as issued: if you report under a local endorsement, a regulator’s instructions, or an industry return, those add items this list does not know about.

The second is the standard being adopted next. A checklist describes the audit you are about to have, not the change arriving after it. If you report on a calendar year, the one currently in progress is also the comparative year for IFRS 18, which is a separate piece of work running on the same file. We have written about what that means for FY2026.

§ 04 · Questions we get asked

01

When should we start working through this?

Six to eight weeks before fieldwork for a first audit, and about four for a repeat one. The items that take longest are not the schedules, they are the judgments: a going concern forecast or an impairment paper cannot be produced in the week the auditor arrives, because the people who need to agree it are the ones with the least free time.

02

Our auditor already sends a PBC list. Is this not the same thing?

No, and the difference matters. A PBC list tells you what the auditor wants to receive. This tells you what has to be true before that list can be answered without a scramble. Most of section A has to be finished before a single PBC item can be filled in properly, and a request list arriving on the first morning is already too late to fix a moving trial balance.

03

We are a small team. Which parts actually matter most?

Sections A and E. A clean trial balance and an answered request list will do more for the length of the audit than a perfect provisions paper. If you only have time for two things, agree the opening balances and put a named owner and a date against every request item.

04

Does using this mean we are audit ready?

It means you are prepared, which is not the same. This is a preparation aid, not an assurance procedure and not a compliance opinion. Your auditor decides what evidence they need, and the standards they work to may ask for more than is listed here. Daftar is a non-attest practice and does not audit the files it helps prepare.

If the list is longer than the time left, start with the file.

We prepare the audit file and answer the request list in advance, so the audit starts on evidence rather than on questions. Fixed scope, fixed fee, and the working file stays with you.

Scope an audit readiness project

Views are my own. This is a general preparation aid and not accounting or assurance advice. It does not replace the requirements of the applicable auditing standards, and it is not a compliance assessment. Confirm what your audit requires against the issued standards and your auditor’s own request list.