Year-end audit preparation checklist: schedules and supporting documents
By Arthur Teboul, DokuTrak · Published
In brief
An audit preparation checklist lists every schedule and supporting document the auditor will ask for before fieldwork on a year-end financial statement audit. It runs area by area, such as cash, receivables, fixed assets, debt and payroll, with an owner and a status per item.
The checklist: Year-end audit preparation checklist
Fill in the owner and status of each line. Send the client the items marked as client documents as soon as the year-end close starts.
- PDFPrint it or tick it off on screen.Free, no email
- WordEdit it and send it under your name.Free, with your email
- Excel trackerOne row per item, with a status column.Free, with your email
General ledger and prior year
- Trial balance and general ledger after all year-end entriesExported to Excel.
- Prior-year audited statements and audit adjustmentsAdjustments posted, opening balances agreed.
Cash, investments and receivables
- Year-end bank statements and reconciliationsEvery account; list of authorized signers.
- Bank statements for the month after year endTo test outstanding checks and deposits.
- Year-end brokerage statements
- Receivables aging tied to the ledgerPlus receipts after year end and the allowance.
- Inventory count sheets and valuation reportOnly if the client holds stock.
Assets, liabilities and debt
- Prepaid expense schedule with invoices
- Fixed asset roll-forwardInvoices for additions, bills of sale for disposals.
- Payables aging and payments after year endFor the search for unrecorded liabilities.
- Accrual worksheet with support
- Loan agreements and year-end lender statementsWith interest and covenant calculations.
- Lease agreements and lease schedule
Payroll, contractors and revenue
- Annual payroll register
- Forms 941, 940, W-2 and W-3 for the year
- Reconciliation of payroll expense to the filed returns
- Forms 1099 filed, with the W-9 behind each
- Major customer contractsWith a note on multi-period revenue.
Governance, legal and grants
- Articles, bylaws or operating agreement
- Board minutes for the year and up to fieldwork
- Capital contributions and distributions
- Pending litigation list and attorney contactFor the legal letter.
- Related party list and transactions with themOwners, family members and companies they control.
- Signed authorizations for bank, lender and customer confirmationsThe auditor sends the confirmations; the client signs the requests.
- Events after year endNew debt, lawsuits, large losses or sales up to fieldwork.
- Schedule of federal award spendingGrantees only; single audit test.
- Management representation letterDrafted by the auditor, signed at the end of fieldwork.
What this checklist covers, and what it does not
This list is for the audit of a company’s or nonprofit’s year-end financial statements by an outside CPA firm. It does not cover IT security attestations, PCAOB readiness for public companies, or internal audit programs.
Auditors send their own request at the start of the engagement. In that request, a PBC list is the set of items "prepared by client" before fieldwork. The guide to PBC lists explains how firms build them.
Starting from this checklist means most of the request is already in hand when it arrives. You spend fieldwork answering questions, not hunting for a loan agreement signed years ago.
Schedules by area and the documents behind them
Each schedule is a summary the auditor tests against outside evidence. The table pairs each schedule with the document the client has to produce, which is usually the slow part.
A roll-forward is a schedule that starts from last year’s audited balance, adds and subtracts the year’s activity, and ends on this year’s balance. Auditors ask for one for fixed assets, debt and equity.
| Area | Schedule you prepare | Document behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | Bank reconciliation for each account at year end | Year-end and following-month bank statements |
| Investments | Investment summary by account | Year-end brokerage statements |
| Receivables | Aging tied to the ledger, plus receipts after year end | Customer invoices and remittances |
| Fixed assets | Roll-forward: opening, additions, disposals, depreciation | Purchase invoices and bills of sale |
| Payables and accruals | Aging plus a list of payments made after year end | Vendor invoices and statements |
| Debt and leases | Debt roll-forward and lease schedule | Loan agreements, lender statements, leases |
| Payroll | Payroll expense reconciled to the filed returns | Annual register, Forms 941, 940, W-2 and W-3 |
| Equity and governance | Equity roll-forward | Articles, bylaws or operating agreement, board minutes |
Get the trial balance right before anything else
Every schedule ties to the trial balance, so finish the year-end close first. Post the prior year’s audit adjustments if they are not in the books yet, and check that opening balances match last year’s audited statements.
Export the general ledger and the trial balance to a spreadsheet, after all year-end entries. A trial balance that changes during fieldwork forces the auditor to re-tie every schedule.
The year-end close checklist covers the reconciliations and adjustments that come before this step.
Payroll and contractor support
Auditors test whether payroll expense in the books matches what was reported to the government. The IRS instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 include a section on reconciling Forms W-2, W-3 and 941 (IRS, General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (2026)), and that reconciliation is the schedule to hand over.
For contractors, keep the 1099 filings with the W-9 behind each one. A missing Form W-9 is easy to spot in testing and slow to fix in March.
Grants and the single audit
Nonprofits and other grantees add a schedule of federal award spending. A single or program-specific audit is required when an entity spends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in its fiscal year (2 CFR 200.501, Audit requirements).
Collect each award letter and the drawdown records with it. The nonprofit year-end checklist covers the rest of a charity’s close.
Track each item from requested to sent
A status column keeps the list honest. Mark each item requested, received, checked or sent to the auditor, and name who owes it.
Check each document before it goes in the package, for example a statement for the wrong month or a lease without its amendments. The IRS expects a business to keep the supporting documents behind its books (IRS Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records), and the audit is where gaps show.
At the end of fieldwork, the auditor drafts a management representation letter and asks management to sign it. A representation letter is a written statement from management confirming what it told the auditor and that the records given were complete.
Questions people ask
What documents do auditors ask for at year end?
The trial balance and general ledger, bank statements and reconciliations, receivable and payable agings, the fixed asset roll-forward with invoices, loan agreements and lender statements, leases, payroll filings, board minutes and major contracts.
What is the difference between this checklist and a PBC list?
A PBC list is the auditor’s request to the client for one engagement. This checklist is what the client prepares in advance so that most of that request is ready on the day it arrives.
How early should audit preparation start?
Start the schedules during the year-end close, as soon as the trial balance is final. Send document requests to the client in the same week, since lender statements and signed agreements take the longest.
When does a grantee need a single audit?
When it spends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards during its fiscal year (2 CFR 200.501, Audit requirements).
Sources
- 2 CFR 200.501, Audit requirements: A non-Federal entity that expends $1,000,000 or more in Federal awards in its fiscal year must have a single or program-specific audit.
- IRS, General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 (2026): 2026 Forms W-2 and W-3 are due to the SSA by February 1, 2027, on paper or electronically, and employees must get their W-2 by the same date.
- IRS Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records: Asset records must show when and how each asset was acquired and its price, and the period of limitations sets how long records are kept: 3 years in most cases, 6 years when income is underreported by more than 25%.
About the author
Arthur Teboul (Founder, DokuTrak) is building DokuTrak after watching professionals lose hours chasing clients for documents over email. Arthur Teboul.
Editorial standards
How this page was made (methodology): it is built from the primary sources listed under Sources, and every rule and figure on it links to the source it comes from. Last updated October 25, 2026. Spotted an error or a rule that changed? Contact us.
Ask once. DokuTrak does the chasing.
- Your client uploads from one link, with no account and no password.
- Reminders go out on a schedule, by default 2, 5, 10 and 14 days after the request, until the file arrives.
- With AI review switched on in your workspace (it is off by default), each upload gets a first pass that flags a file that is not the requested document or an unreadable or blurry scan. It says so when it is not sure.
- You accept every file or mark it for re-upload, and your client gets the note by email. The AI never accepts a file.