How Board Portals Support and Streamline Audits

Managing your audit process can be a monumental undertaking, but the right tools can improve your processes and define your audit trail. Your board portal and governance partner should be able to take the stress out of establishing a comprehensive audit trail.

Audit Committees

Audit committees are a pillar for boards of directors and a critical standing entity that handles the process of conducting an organization’s annual audit. The audit committee’s primary purpose is to provide financial oversight and comprehensive reporting during the yearly audit process. They also must stay in compliance with laws and regulations.

Audit committees are required by law for all publicly traded companies under the NYSE rules and regulations. Committee members are also in charge of handling and managing outside, independent auditors in conjunction with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which mandates that audit committees be directly responsible for overseeing the engagement of the company’s independent auditor. Ultimately, this committee has a very complex and vital role in the corporate governance of an organization.

Audit Trails

More and more people have become comfortable working in a digital environment and managing paperless processes. With the world having transitioned to a much more digital space, audits have also gone digital. Digital audit teams require documentation of events such as signatures, votes, meetings, etc. This necessitates organizations to retain certain electronic records for the audits. The auditing process verifies that the data has been retained, hasn’t been modified, and is accessible within the organization’s system. 

Modern board portal software like Govenda understands this need for a documented audit trail and has built that into the platform. Utilizing the Govenda board portal allows organizations to record necessary document signatures, votes, and more right within the platform. 

User-Favorite Tools for Audits

Virtual Votes for Audits

Utilizing a digital tool for casting, collecting, and filing votes streamlines the voting process, saving boards time and money. Rather than requiring in-person or paper ballots, virtual voting allows organizations to record decisions from both in and out of the boardroom. Govenda’s voting feature will enable you to securely store voting data for future reference and legal review if ever necessary. 

E-Signatures

Having the ability to collect signatures on documents without waiting for in-person meetings or requiring your directors to print, scan, and email will expedite business and simplify the process for everyone. A board portal focused on security should provide an e-signature tool that is more than an image on a document, but also tracks forensic data like IP address, time and date stamps, and certifying the document hasn’t been modified since signature(s). Govenda’s E-signature tool provides users with the assurance that all signatures are legally binding and include the pertinent data required to meet audit requirements. 

Tip: Beware of board portals that create their own digital signature feature. Ensure that your board portal is doing more than placing an image or annotation of a signature on a document with a date and time stamp. 

Document Storage

Organized document storage can make for a much less stressful audit process. Creating a single repository for pertinent information allows for the smoother collection of documents at the time of the audit. 

Govenda provides an organized library for financial documentation that allows users to access, annotate, and collaborate over documents. Because Govenda is secure and offers unparalleled organization, audit committee members can do their job more effectively.

Govenda for your Audit Processes

Govenda is a secure solution for financial reporting that mitigates the problematic cycle of global, disparate reporting procedures. Our secure portal houses all business documents in a secure, state of the art platform. The cloud-based applications allow committee members to access financial documents any time, anywhere, from any device- even across the globe.

Start a conversation today about how Govenda can support your governance and audit processes.