Cloud Audit

Audits for Startups: Are You Prepared?

No one ever looks forward to being audited—and most businesses will go a long time without the Internal Revenue Service poking it’s fingers into their financial affairs. Yet should it happen, it’s essential to be prepared.
No one ever looks forward to being audited—and most businesses will go a long time without the Internal Revenue Service poking it’s fingers into their financial affairs. Yet should it happen, it’s essential to be prepared.

There are three things every startup should do right from the start:

1. Don’t DIY

An audit’s primary purpose is to make sure the business is compliant with all relevant laws and regulations. For that reason it’s essential that tax documents be prepared by—or at least reviewed by—a professional who knows those laws and can understand how they apply to a given business.

2. Keep documents the appropriate length of time

In order to check for compliance an auditor will need access to a wide variety of documentation. Not having those documents on hand can lead to serious additional costs. Not only can a tax professional help make sure documents are properly prepared, they can also help the company decide how long to keep various types of information on hand.

3. Make sure those documents are organized and easy to navigate

The best way to keep the audit process simple and quick is to ensure everything an auditor will need is easy to find and neatly organized. Since much of the information they’ll need to access will be of a sensitive nature, using a secure virtual data room is a good way to keep documents accessible and organized without the need to store them physically in limited office space (perhaps that’s why so many companies are choosing digital cloud storage over physical).

Startups that follow these three steps will be prepared should the IRS ever look their way.

You own a startup and you wanna deal with the new regulations? VAT just increased from 10% to 11%!

You only have so many hours in the day. Shouldn’t that time be spent focusing on your core business rather than dealing with the administrative headaches of day-to-day accounting?

At Cloud Audit, we understand entrepreneurs and the challenges they face when building a company. Our team of Accountants have decades of startup expertise, and can provide a cost-effective, practical solution for your business.

As the accounting leader in the startup ecosystem, we have worked with companies in a variety of industries and funding stages – whether for standard block-and-tackle accounting or more complex financial oversight.