AUDIT FIELDWORK

How AuditField works

Fieldwork tracker for boutique audit firms — PBC requests, sample selection, workpapers, review notes, exception findings, and final sign-off packets on one engagement workflow.

What it solves

Audit firms run engagements on PBC request lists, sample selections, workpapers, review notes, and partner sign-offs — passed between staff, managers, reviewers, and partners on shared drives, email threads, and ad-hoc spreadsheets that never quite tell the same story when quality reviewers come knocking.

AuditField centralizes the engagement: PBC requests with client portal, sample selection, workpaper preparation and review, exception finding disposition, and the final sign-off packet partners deliver to the audit committee — all auditable end-to-end.

Why this is hard: Reviewers and partners both need to sign off, every exception needs documented disposition, materiality calls have to be defensible, and every workpaper has to survive the firm's quality review later.

Who uses it

Engagement partner

Final sign-off authority; owns engagement quality and the client relationship.

First action: Open Sign-off queue

Audit manager

Runs the engagement: scheduling, PBC, supervision, partner-readiness.

First action: Open Engagements → Active

Staff auditor

Performs fieldwork: prepares workpapers, selects samples, dispositions exceptions.

First action: Open Workpapers → Assigned to me

Client contact

Provides Prepared-By-Client (PBC) evidence on engagement timelines.

First action: Open PBC → Outstanding

Reviewer

Reviews workpapers and writes review notes; clears staff fieldwork.

First action: Open Workpapers → In review

Quality reviewer

Independent QC pass; signs off on engagement quality before partner sign-off.

First action: Open Exceptions → Awaiting QR

Admin

Demo-override persona with full access for walkthroughs.

First action: Open marquee sign-off packet

Workflow at a glance

happyHappy path

Manager opens the engagement and generates the PBC list. Client uploads evidence. Staff selects samples, prepares workpapers, dispositions findings. Reviewer comments; staff resolves. Quality reviewer signs off on engagement quality. Partner signs the final packet for delivery to the audit committee.

exceptionException path

Client misses a PBC due date; the request flags overdue, engagement readiness score drops, and the manager dashboard surfaces the blocker. Once evidence lands, the affected workpaper unblocks and fieldwork resumes.

approvalApproval path

Staff tries to mark a workpaper complete while open review notes exist on it. The action is blocked with a reason code. Staff must resolve every note (or escalate to manager) before re-submitting for reviewer acceptance.

reportingReporting

PBC aging by client, open review notes by reviewer, workpaper completion percentage, exceptions by audit area, engagement readiness scores, and partner sign-off queue roll up on the manager dashboard.

What it produces

Final engagement sign-off packet (PDF)
Workpaper bundle export
PBC request list export
Exception findings summary
Engagement status report
Review note report
Quality reviewer memo
Audit-trail CSV export

Industry terms

PBC request (prepared-by-client): Itemized request to the client for evidence (bank recs, schedules, contracts) needed to perform fieldwork. Each PBC has an owner and due date.
Sample selection: Statistical or judgmental selection of items from a population (invoices, transactions, balances) on which the auditor will perform substantive testing.
Workpaper: The auditor's primary work product per audit area — sample tested, procedures performed, results, conclusion, and supporting evidence. The unit of review.
Review note: Comment from a reviewer on a workpaper requiring clarification, additional procedure, or correction. Workpapers cannot complete with open review notes.
Exception finding: A documented discrepancy or control failure identified during fieldwork. Each finding requires a disposition (cleared, escalated, included in report).
Sign-off: Formal acceptance step at workpaper, area, and engagement level. The engagement-level sign-off is the partner's acceptance of overall audit quality.
Materiality: Threshold below which misstatements are considered immaterial to financial-statement users. Drives sample size, exception escalation, and reporting decisions.
Engagement readiness: Rolled-up score of PBC completeness, workpaper progress, open review notes, and exception status — used by managers to forecast partner sign-off date.
Risk rating: Per-area risk classification (low / moderate / high / significant) driving the depth of testing, materiality, and reviewer/partner attention required.
Quality reviewer: Independent reviewer not on the engagement team who performs a final QC pass on conclusions and workpapers before partner sign-off.

Data model (for technical evaluators)

The app is built on a relational schema (Neon Postgres + Prisma). Entities:

Organization · User · Role · Client · Engagement · AuditArea · PBCRequest · EvidenceItem · SamplePopulation · SampleItem · Workpaper · WorkpaperSection · ReviewNote · ExceptionFinding · SignOff · RiskRating · FinalPacket · AuditEvent