A first-year statutory audit is not simply last year’s engagement with new letterhead. Opening balances must be examined, and prior-period adjustments understood, before the current-year opinion can rest on solid equity.
What slows the calendar
Missing fixed-asset registers, undocumented inventory write-downs from prior years, and related-party balances that never reconciled cleanly. We budget extra weeks for these — and we say so in the fee letter.
How to brief us well
Provide the prior auditor’s management letter (if available), a rollforward of equity, and explanations for every unusual journal above a threshold you and we agree. Transparency shortens fieldwork more than optimism does.