Financial Audit Checklist
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Table of Contents
Introduction
This Financial Audit Checklist is designed to guide you through the critical elements of a successful audit process. Covering essential areas such as accounting requirements, budgeting, and banking procedures, this template ensures that your organization maintains compliance and accuracy in its financial practices. By utilizing our Checklist App, you can save and customize this checklist to meet your specific needs. Share it with your team for collaborative efforts and stay organized across all devices for a seamless auditing experience.
What's included
Save the full checklist and customize it later.
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- Accounting Requirements
- Are proper books and records kept of all transactions?
- Do the accounts comply with requirements for external scrutiny?
- Are accounts formally approved at an annual meeting?
- Organizational Structure
- Is a plan held showing organizational structure?
- Are lines of authority and reporting laid down in writing and communicated to all staff?
- Are all staff and volunteers given proper training?
- Is professional advice taken where appropriate?
- Budgets
- Are annual budgets prepared and approved to cover both income and expenditure?
- Is performance measured against budgets at regular intervals?
- Banking and Custody Procedures
- Are incoming receipts banked promptly and regularly?
- Is the safe custody ensured for all valuables held on premises?
- Are keys of safe or cash box signed for?
- Is insurance held to cover contents of safe or cash box?
- Is all incoming money banked and no amounts held over for petty cash feeding/replenishment?
- Is a written statement of banking and custody procedures available to all staff and volunteers?
- Is money belonging held separately from that of any individual staff member?
- Are there controls over receipt books?
- Checks of Income Records
- Are regular checks made to ensure records are accurate?
- Are regular checks made to ensure no discrepancies between records?
- Are checks made by someone other than the original recording officer?
- Are any restrictions placed on donated income identified and observed?
- Controls over expenditure
- Are all expenditures properly authorized?
- Is there supporting documentation required and maintained for all expenditures?
- Are check books kept in secure place with access only by nominated persons?
- Is the preparation of payments undertaken by someone other than the authorizing officer?
- Is a written statement of policy and practice on payment procedures available to all staff and volunteers?
- Controls over purchases
- Are invoices checked against orders made?
- Is the quality and quantity of goods supplied checked against orders made?
- Is inventory of stock taken regularly?
- Are authority levels for placing orders documented?
- Are payments only made against original invoices?
- Staff and Salaries
- Are Personnel records kept and held separately from wage records?
- Are wage/salary levels properly authorized and recorded?
- Are checks made to verify existence of employees?
- Are cash payments avoided wherever possible?
- Are staff employed in compliance with state/federal regulations?
- Are background checks completed, particularly for staff assigned financial duties?
- Bank accounts
- Are secure records held of all accounts?
- Are regular bank reconciliations carried out?
- Are instructions to open or close accounts properly authorized and/or reported?
- Are checks made to ensure that there are no dormant accounts?
- Are bank statements regularly inspected by officers not assigned bookkeeping duties?
- Are cross checks made between bank records and the income and expenditure records?
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Presented by:
John F. Smith
Stats
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499
Views: 499
Uses
26
Uses: 26
Tasks
52
Tasks: 52
Who it's for
This Financial Audit Checklist is for teams that want consistent execution, less rework, and clear ownership.
- Standardize quality - run the same Financial Audit steps every time, regardless of who executes
- Save time - reuse a proven Financial Audit workflow instead of rebuilding processes from scratch
- Improve accountability - assign owners and see what's done vs. what's pending
- Onboard faster - use the Financial Audit checklist as the SOP and training guide
- Coordinate across roles - handoffs are clear and everyone works from the same source of truth
How to use it
How to use this Financial Audit Checklist:
- Start by saving it - save as a Template if you'll reuse it, or as a Checklist if it's a one-off project.
- Customize it once for your workflow - remove what doesn't apply and add your team-specific steps.
- Assign ownership and execute - set owners/due dates where needed and track completion as work happens.
- Reuse without rebuilding - when Financial Audit comes up again, start from your saved version and run it with clear ownership.
Rate this Checklist
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Scores 4.80 with 1436 votes