2 April 2026
Preparing Bank Confirmations Before Fieldwork Week
Confirmation letters still delay many audits. Here is the checklist we send clients two weeks before year-end procedures.
Bank confirmations remain one of the slowest external procedures. We ask clients to list every account—yen, foreign currency, custody, and guarantee facilities—before we draft letters.
Include dormant accounts. Auditors still need evidence that a zero balance is genuine, and banks often take longer to reply on inactive accounts than on operating ones.
If your group uses a cash-pooling arrangement, note the master entity and the legal right of set-off. That detail shapes whether we treat balances as gross or net in the statements.
Send contact names at each bank branch. A letter that lands on a general mail desk can sit for days; a named relationship manager usually shortens the wait.