Preparing evidence without drowning the AP desk

The first week of fieldwork can overwhelm accounts payable if sample requests arrive as a flood. A calmer path exists, and it starts before the access letter is signed.

Agree a retrieval window

Ask the auditor — including us — for a weekly sample drop rather than a continuous stream. AP can then batch retrievals. Most financial audits of budget control applications tolerate this if the overall calendar still holds.

Pre-index the usual suspects

Commitment logs, delegation matrices, and override registers should be indexed before day one. Searching for “where we keep overrides” during fieldwork is what creates the scramble.

Protect ordinary operations

Nominate a single liaison for sample questions. When every specialist emails a different clerk, ordinary invoice processing slows and resentment toward the audit grows — which helps no one at the close meeting.