"Auditor Angst"

By Alix Stuart: Want to drive your auditors crazy? Try this: First, meet with them ahead of the annual audit and agree on a date when your work papers will be ready. Then, when they arrive for the audit, tell them you're "almost ready" and hand over just enough material to keep them busy until lunch. Repeat as necessary. Later, suddenly remember a contract or revenue-recognition problem that you haven't previously discussed (the more complex, the better). Finally, as the deadline nears, demand a 24-hour turnaround for the 10-K draft and complain loudly when the auditors tell you it can't be done.

This scenario may sound like a joke, but in fact auditors say it's exactly what many CFOs do every year.

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Source: CFO.com, 1 May 2008. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2008. All rights reserved.