A Better Audit Experience: Setting Up for a Smoother Process
To ensure a smooth audit, the process of getting your finance and accounting house in order should preferably be done months in advance of an actual audit: the ideal is to build an organization that functions in a state of anytime audit readiness. At a minimum, your team should be able to support an annual audit without undue chaos. However, many organizations are woefully unprepared.
Does the thought of an audit fill you and your team with dread and anxiety? You are not alone: the idea of putting resources and time into this necessary but intricate task can often be overwhelming.
Finance and accounting ‘house-keeping’ and compliance with regulatory standards are realities all businesses face, but audits can quickly go awry. And when they do it’s not just the audit opinion that’s at stake – a prolonged audit process can sap the energy and morale of the finance team, increase the costs involved, and, worst of all, put your company’s financing and compliance requirements at risk if critical deadlines aren’t met.
To eliminate the risk and hassle of searching for answers that may no longer be readily available, or wasting time extracting obscure information cross-functionally at short notice, it pays to be ready for the inevitable. As the saying goes: a stitch in time saves nine.
But would you be properly prepared if an audit happened today?
In this webinar hosted by RoseRyan the panel will discuss:
- the most common culprits to time-consuming audits – and how to overcome them
- the importance and benefits of being well prepared for audit
- the consequences of being unprepared for audit, and
- how preparedness – or lack of it – affects outcomes for your business either way
As a webinar attendee, you will also receive a complimentary White Paper by RoseRyan Vice President Pat Voll: ‘A Better Audit Experience – Setting Up for a Smoother Process: The 3 most common culprits to time-consuming ‘audits – and how to overcome them’
Discover how RoseRyan can help you improve your Audit Readiness.
Tuesday, September 29th
8:00am – 9:00am (PDT)
Join our panel of heavyweight speakers who will share their insights on getting through an audit seamlessly.
Dan Fairfax
Board of Directors of SuperMicro (SMCI), Energous (WATT), and privately held Saama Technologies; formerly with Brocade Communications Systems
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Dan Fairfax is the Audit Committee Chair at both Energous and Saama and also serves on the Audit Committee of the Board of Trustees at Whitman College.
He was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Brocade Communications Systems until its acquisition by Broadcom in late 2017. Dan joined Brocade in 2008, as the result of the company’s acquisition of Foundry Networks, where he served as CFO. He has also held the position of Vice President Worldwide Services and Support at Brocade. He has more than 35 years’ of senior financial and operational management experience.
Education
Dan holds a BA in economics from Whitman College; an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; and is a CPA in the State of California with an inactive license.
Michael Ownby
(RoseRyan Alum)
Chief Financial Officer: Infoworks.io, Inc.
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Mike has over thirty years’ of experience as a finance and systems executive in both public and private technology and biotechnology companies.
He has also consulted for a wide range of clients focusing on growth, as well as aligning systems with operations.
Mike also founded MRO’s Strategic Services and co-founded DBA Capital Advisory Services.
As Public and Private Company Chief Financial Officer/Corporate Controller/Chief Compliance Officer (China)/Corporate Treasurer, Mike oversaw Board and investor relations, and was a Board member of a Joint Venture in China.
In this position, he led the Company through the process of reorganizing its operations in China; established an Internal Audit function, and implemented SOX in a multinational environment.
He also revamped the public reporting function in a growth environment in a multi-national setting, and revamped treasury management across multiple international entities.
Mike has led multiple teams for SEC reporting and initial audits. In this role he has prepared financial statements, footnotes and public filings for mid-size and small SEC clients for both annual and quarterly filings. He has extensive experience with all aspects of financial audit for both public and private clients, and has also led Due Diligence in a go-private transaction and de-registration.
Mike’s areas of expertise include working closely with executive teams to implement initiatives from the Board of Directors.
He delivers’ shareholder value by aligning people, systems and resources with the needs and operations of the business.
Acquisitions and divestitures are another focus area, including restructurings and discontinued operations. Mike is well-versed in full scope financial reporting and audit preparation for private and public companies.
Education
Mike holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from University of Tennessee; and has inactive licenses as a Certified Public Accountant (Ohio), and FINRA Series 7, Series 63 and Series 24.
Dave Roberson
(Webinar Moderator)
CEO: RoseRyan, Inc
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As RoseRyan’s CEO, David Roberson leads the day-to-day business and builds upon the firm’s established reputation for taking companies further, faster. He joined RoseRyan in late 2018 as a member of the executive team and managed key areas of the firm.
In 2018, David led the large team engagement that provided transitional services for the Symantec-DigiCert divestiture.
RoseRyan Founder and Chair Kathy Ryan named David to the CEO post in January 2020 to champion RoseRyan into the next era of growth.
Prior to joining RoseRyan, David spent six years as an advisor to tech companies, leading major projects in the areas of finance, strategy, due diligence, capital structure, corporate governance, sales and human resources.
David also served as a senior vice president for Hewlett-Packard Co. Before HP, he was president and CEO at Hitachi Data Systems, where he previously held the titles of COO, CFO, CIO and general counsel.
He has served as a director of 12 companies including Brocade, Quantum, IGT, Spansion and IDT. He is currently chairman of the board of Push Technology, a global API management company.
In his spare time, David mentors a diverse group of people in various disciplines, from recent college graduates to CEOs.
Education
David received a BA from the University of California at Irvine, and a JD from Golden Gate University School of Law. He studied financial management at Harvard Business School.
Benjamin Shappell
Partner, Audit Services: RSM US LLP, San Francisco, CA
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Ben is an audit partner and RSM’s Bay Area audit leader. He has over 15 years’ of accounting and audit experience, and provides diverse accounting and advisory services, primarily in the technology, service, consumer products, and manufacturing and distribution industries. He has significant experience with complex revenue recognition and debt and equity accounting, as well as supporting private equity portfolio companies, entities with international operations and SEC reporting.
In 2018 Ben returned from two years in London as a part of RSM US’s expatriate program where he supported the firm’s internationally active clients as a member of the global engagement team by coordinating and executing on U.S. standards audit engagements.
Ben also has extensive experience providing GAAP and IFRS conversion services for entities transitioning from one presentation to another.
Professional affiliations and credentials
- Certified public accountant, California
- American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
- Massachusetts Society of CPAs
Education
Ben holds a Master of Science (accounting) from Boston College, and a Bachelor of Science, (accounting) from George Washington University.
An audit process may not feel very zen-like, but it can be – with the right resources and approach.
You should especially consider getting audit ready if:
- Your in-house finance and accounting team are not up to the task in terms of expertise and ‘bandwidth.’
- It’s a scramble to meet deadlines and get all your ducks in a row on time, especially if your accounting records are not ‘audit ready’.
- Your organization’s ‘house-keeping’ is lacking and adequate processes and procedures need to be put in place to satisfy audit requirements.
- Your organization has grown too complex and your staff need help leveling up.
- You want your audit support partner to be a trusted advisor to allow for a successful audit.
Thank you for your interest in the RoseRyan Audit Readiness Webinar!
If you find this a useful opportunity to learn about how best to approach your organisation’s finance and accounting challenges, we would also like to invite you to join the RoseRyan Inner Circle.
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