“The inventory observation memo named three SKUs we had been rolling forward without a fresh count. Fixing those before the bank meeting saved us a longer argument later.”
Client stories
What finance teams notice after fieldwork
These notes come from companies that invited us onto their floors and into their year-end packs. Voices differ; outcomes stay concrete.
“Aya’s team was slower than our previous reviewer on the first week because they insisted on tracing shipping cut-offs to the bill of lading. That delay irritated me at the time — and it found a week of revenue sitting in the wrong period.”
“Statutory audit support meant our two-person finance desk could answer the appointed auditor without working until midnight every night. The PBC folders actually matched the sample list.”
“The payroll walkthrough showed that salary changes were approved by the same person who processed payments. We already suspected it; seeing it written forced the board to hire a part-time checker.”
“They declined to start until our bank reconciliations were current. That felt unhelpful for a day, then I realised they were protecting both of us from a useless fieldwork week.”
Extended story
Year-end review for a two-warehouse manufacturer
A Utsunomiya maker of metal fittings approached us three months before March year-end. Their lender had asked for an independent review after inventory turns slowed. The trial balance looked orderly; the warehouses did not.
We attended both physical counts, tested cut-off on outbound shipments, and compared valuation sheets to recent purchase invoices. Two slow-moving lots were still carried at full cost despite corrosion notes in the stock cards. Management wrote them down before we issued the findings memo.
The review fee landed above the starting point because of the second warehouse, which we priced in the engagement letter after the scoping visit. Fieldwork ran across four on-site days and two remote testing weeks.
Extended story
Helping a family group answer its first heavy PBC list
A multi-entity trading group in southern Tochigi faced its first statutory auditor with a long prepared-by-client list. We did not replace the auditor. We indexed evidence folders, chased bank confirmations, and drafted clear responses to related-party queries.
The finance staff kept ownership of the ledgers; we sat beside them twice a week until the auditor’s queries closed. The engagement ended when the management letter items were understood — not when a marketing milestone was hit.
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