Chapter 02

The audit process: we learn your operation

Seven weeks. The CFO sponsors the work, then AP, AR, close, treasury, tax, procurement, and reconciliation owners pull in their teams. Outputs: process and time map, controls register, ROI baseline, and build plan signed by the people who run the work.

Audit Inputs
Interviews
55 sessions / 42 stakeholders

We start with the CFO and controller, then interview every process owner plus analysts who handle exceptions day to day.

  • C
    CFO
    1×60min · priorities + budget
  • C
    Controller
    2×60min · workflows + exceptions
  • A/
    AP / AR / treasury leads
    9×45min · process maps + exception paths
  • CT
    Close, tax, and reconciliation owners
    8×45min · controls + handoffs
  • AA
    Analysts and senior accountants
    14×30min · judgment cases + rework
  • AA
    AP and AR analysts
    10×30min · queue work + manual lookup paths
  • TA
    Treasury and bank rec team
    4×45min · cash matching + settlement timing
  • FS
    Finance systems admin
    2×45min · permissions + integration constraints
  • PA
    Procurement and vendor ops
    5×30min · supplier records + PO exceptions
All sessions transcribed and tagged
Documentation
104 sources ingested

SOPs, policy docs, exports, tickets, approval matrices, exception logs, and sample work packets are indexed together.

  • Close checklist
    SOP
  • GL coding manual
    Policy
  • Vendor master
    Master data
  • Audit prep packet
    Compliance
  • Exception logs + aging exports
    Operational data
  • Approval matrix + SOX controls
    Governance
  • Shadow spreadsheets
    Working files
  • Bank reconciliation procedures
    Runbook
  • Card reconciliation exports
    Operational data
Indexed and queryable by agents
Software
13 systems mapped

Core finance systems, collaboration tools, warehouses, spreadsheets, and shadow workflows are mapped as one operating graph.

N
NetSuite
ERP
B
Bill.com
AP Automation
W
Workday
HCM / Payroll
C
Concur
Expense
BlackLine
Reconciliation
CO
Coupa
Procurement
ST
Stripe
Payments
SA
Salesforce
Revenue data
SN
Snowflake
Warehouse
X
Excel
Spreadsheets
SH
SharePoint
Document store
O
Outlook
Email
Slack
Communication
All systems connected
13
Systems mapped
31
Workflows analyzed
57,000+
Exceptions sampled
720K
Hours of manual work / yr
Automation map
Of 720,000 manual hours / yr
How much we take off your plate
Total identified manual hours, split between what we automate and what stays human
75%
Automatable · 540,288 hrs
179,712 hrs human
Of the 540,288 automatable hours, here’s what each agent contributes
Each bar floats at the running total. Built in priority order, summing to total automated.
0K135K270K405K540K+208KP1Invoice & AP$16.8M+73KP2Exceptions$11.2M+84KP3Close$7.6M+124KP4Recon$6.4M+52KP5Vendor$3.8M540Khrs / yrTOTALAutomated$46M / yr
P1Invoice Processing & AP
85% automatable · $16.8M
P2Exception Resolution
72% automatable · $11.2M
P3Period-End Close
65% automatable · $7.6M
P4Cross-System Reconciliation
78% automatable · $6.4M
P5Vendor Communication
60% automatable · $3.8M
Stays human · judgment, exceptions, relationships179,712 hrs / yr remain manual
Implementation timeline23 weeks · then ongoing
Phase / Workflow
W1
W2
W3
W4
W5
W6
W7
W8
W9
W10
W11
W12
W13
W14
W15
W16
W17
W18
W19
W20
W21
W22
W23
Audit
7 weeks
CFO kickoff
Owner interviews
Team shadowing
Systems map
ROI baseline
Plan signed
Build · workflows shipped in priority order
P1Invoice Processing & AP
8w
P2Exception Resolution
9w
P3Period-End Close
10w
P4Cross-System Reconciliation
8w
P5Vendor Communication
6w
Operate
ongoing →
Next: Build Process