Customer service – the second strategic objective of our audit department

In a previous article, we looked at the strengths and opportunities associated with employee motivation. This article will place a focus on the strengths and opportunities regarding our audit departments second strategic objective, namely customer service. As an audit or independent review is frequently viewed as a burden, we strive to change the perception through our continued commitment to deliver excellent service whilst upholding the professions ethical requirements and high standards.

Strengths:

Communication – We strive to communicate effectively during our engagements to keep our valued clients updated as to the progress being made. We commit to communicate possible over expenditure proactively for our clients to be informed regarding any possible issues encountered during the engagement. We aim to deliver timely and accurate feedback to queries received by email.

Feedback – At ASL, we invite feedback from our clients whether positive or negative. We value and respect our clients’ needs as we do realise that each engagement is unique. We view possible negative feedback as an opportunity to improve our clients experience during future engagements.

Project reflection – We acknowledge the importance of discussing an engagement after completion. This allows for valuable information to be obtained and presented to the team in order to better our future service. We take note of any feedback from our clients. The reflection is carried forward to future engagements to ensure proper continuation of high levels of service delivery and audit or independent review quality.

Opportunities:

Report to management – Our auditing standards require us to report control weaknesses identified during the engagement to our clients. We see this as an opportunity to go above and beyond and communicate more than just control weaknesses but also to communicate possible value-adding opportunities identified during the audit. These opportunities might lead to higher efficiency. We believe that this will provide valuable information to management from an outside perspective.

Value-adding services – During our engagements, we strive to communicate further possible services that we can offer our clients in order to improve the financial function and give our clients more time to focus on the business aspect rather than the compliance aspect. These services are measured against section 90 of the Companies Act as well as the professions Code of Professional Conduct to ensure that we maintain our professional requirements in order to stay independent.

Please contact us to explore further opportunities that our audit department can provide your business.