Prepare financial auditing reports

I have the draft audit report ready; send it to the finance director and then to the external auditor for review, with a Friday COB deadline. Before sending, confirm the sampling methodology, findings, and corrective action plans are all documented and cross-referenced to working papers.

Before I share the internal audit report with the audit committee, make it easy for non-finance members to approve — surface the key risks and net effect on reserves up front, make the recommendations scannable, and flag any areas where evidence is thin and will draw questions.

The external auditor has requested backup for a sample transaction but our working papers don't clearly itemize the supporting invoices; the finance director wants the report in two days. I don't know if the missing backup is an oversight or a control gap. What should I prioritize: reconstructing the backup now, flagging the uncertainty in the report, or asking for a short extension?

Before every audit we end up chasing missing supporting documents, which delays sign-off and makes us look sloppy. Across past audits where do we lose control — unclear document owners, poor filing conventions, or inadequate sampling notes? Recommend one habit to fix now that will cut audit chase time by half.