Small Business Financial Systems Audit
Balanced Equation’s Small Business Financial Systems Audit is a specialized service designed to evaluate how your business is currently using financial software and tools to manage day-to-day operations. We focus on streamlining core areas such as payroll systems, QuickBooks and Xero setup and usage, invoicing workflows, costing, expense tracking, and account reconciliation. Our goal is to identify inefficiencies, outdated practices, or redundancies that may be costing your business time and money. We then provide expert, CPA-led recommendations for improving efficiency & accuracy so your accounting tools and tech stack support growth instead of holding it back.
Benefits
Are Your Accounting Programs and Technology Slowing You Down?
Our Small Business Financial Systems Audit offers a thorough evaluation of your financial systems, including the month-end close process, payroll, QuickBooks, expense reporting, accounts payable and accounts receivable. Through our completely customized service offering, we identify areas for improvement, ensuring your processes are efficient, reliable, and tailored to your unique business needs. Our goal is to enable your team to utilize technology to automate repetitive tasks and to optimize the software solutions your company adopts. With the right tools in place, you can scale your business without driving increased accounting and administrative costs.

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Why a Financial Systems Audit Could Be a Game Changer For Your Business
Many businesses rely on accounting software every day, but few realize how much time and money they’re losing to inefficient or outdated processes. This service takes a close look at your day-to-day workflows to find what’s slowing you down and recommend practical ways to improve performance and profitability.
For many small and mid-sized businesses, inefficiencies in financial software, payroll, and accounts receivable workflows can quietly drain valuable time, money, and resources. Balanced Equation’s Small Business Financial Systems Audit is designed to pinpoint those gaps and turn them into opportunities for growth. This service helps simplify your workflows, reduce repetitive tasks, and improve how your data moves across systems—leading to clearer decisions and stronger financial outcomes.
If you're wondering how this service can help your business, here are some of the most impactful benefits:
- Enhanced operational efficiency
- Cost savings through optimized processes
- Freedom for your accounting team to focus on tasks that drive business growth rather than repetitive, transactional work.
- Tailored recommendations for technology integration
- Strategic insights for business growth
- Improved financial accuracy and compliance
Discover gaps in your current systems and uncover opportunities to improve efficiency and compliance.

Who is this for?
Our Small Business Financial Systems Audit is designed to help companies like yours streamline financial operations and make confident technology decisions. Whether you’re scaling up or working with outdated processes, we’ll help you assess what’s working, what’s not, and what tools can help you become more successful and efficient.
With so many accounting software options on the market, choosing the right one can feel overwhelming. We simplify that process guiding you through vendor selection with your business goals in mind.
This service is especially valuable for businesses with $1 million or more in annual revenue, where the right systems can unlock major efficiency gains.
We also understand that change isn’t always easy—especially for experienced accounting teams used to doing things, “the way they’ve always been done.” That’s why we don’t just recommend solutions—we support your leadership team through the change management process, helping your staff adapt smoothly to new tools and workflows.
Streamline Your Financial Operations And Accounting Software with a Comprehensive Small Business Financial Systems Audit
Identify inefficiencies in your payroll, QuickBooks, accounts payable and accounts receivable processes.
Here’s How It Works

Fill Out the Form Below:
Start by completing the form below so we can learn more about your business and determine if you're a good fit for the Small Business Financial Systems Audit.

Initial Consultation:
Once you fill out the form, you will receive an email with a link to schedule a 30 minute discovery call with Jackie Compton, owner of Balanced Equation. We want to understand your business operations, goals for the audit, and the current tools you're using to manage finances, so we can tailor our recommendations to deliver maximum RIO.

Engagement Design and Acceptance:
Once we have a clear idea of the scope of your Systems Audit, we will put together an engagement letter for your review and acceptance. The engagement letter will be our agreement on the services to be provided. Once work commences, any additionally identified services we agree upon would result in a change in scope and a new addendum to the original engagement letter.

System Evaluation:
During the system evaluation, we will interview team members and evaluate your current accounting processes and procedures and current use of technology. During this stage, opportunities for process improvement and technology adoption naturally present themselves. We will pull together the necessary information needed to support our report and recommendations.

Data Analysis:
From the data pulled together during the system evaluation, we will analyze your current systems and processes and identify which software tools we recommend to streamline your accounting operations. Additionally, we will make recommendations for process improvement to ensure the proper adoption and implementation of any applications you agree to implement.

Customized Recommendations:
We will provide actionable strategies for optimization. The deliverables will include a detailed report of recommendations, process improvement suggestions, and ideas for new software tools or integrations that could better support your financial operations.

Implementation Support:
We'll work with you to help integrate the solutions we recommend, whether it's new software, system improvements, or workflow changes. We'll also discuss how Balanced Equation can continue to support your accounting needs moving forward, based on your business goals and capacity.
Financial And Accounting Software We Commonly Audit





About
Balanced Equation
Jackie Compton, CPA, CTC, is the Founder of Balanced Equation and brings over 30 years of experience working with individuals, startups, and large corporations. With a background in auditing, corporate accounting, software implementations and public practice, Jackie is passionate about helping small business owners streamline their financial operations and plan strategically. Her love for technology and software drives her mission to make accounting simpler, smarter, and more supportive for growing businesses.
Evaluate your accounting tools, workflows, and software integrations with expert CPA guidance.

Frequently Asked Questions
What is the duration of the Financial Systems Audit process?
Once the engagement scope has been defined and the engagement letter is signed, it can take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to complete the Systems Audit and produce a report of our findings. Factors that impact the duration include the complexity and size of your business and the size and availability of your accounting department. The cost for a Systems Audit starts at $2,500 and increases depending on the size and complexity of your business.
An additional factor that impacts the engagement is whether you engage us beyond report delivery.
Will the audit disrupt our daily operations?
Usually, companies can plan on team member interviews with a duration of 30 minutes to 45 minutes per accounting team member. If your accounting team is smaller, it may be necessary to interview team members outside of the accounting department to determine the impact on non-accounting stakeholders. There are various factors that determine the overall amount of time spent, but this will be discussed with you during the design phase of our engagement.
How soon can we implement the recommended changes?
There are several factors that influence implementation time:
- Motivation level of your leadership and your team
- Availability of your leadership and your team
- Complexity of applications and process changes to be implemented
- In cases where implementation support from Balanced Equation is needed, the lead time will depend upon our backlog at the time of the engagement.
Is the Small Business Systems Audit suitable for our industry?
Evaluating the software tools and processes in place in your business is suitable for all industries. Any industry that utilizes computers and software in managing their accounting operations can benefit from evaluating the tools they are using. However, our industry specializations include: Food & Beverage/Restaurants, Breweries, Retail, Light manufacturing, Service based businesses, E-Commerce, Tech Companies, and Home Services.
What kinds of software or systems do you evaluate?
The main software we support are Quickbooks and Xero and the accounting and operational procedures that flow into these applications.
There are two parts to the evaluation:
- Accounting and operational processes
- Finding the right tool to automate or streamline the processes
We support many point of sale applications, expense reporting, accounts payable and accounts receivable management applications, project management applications, job costing applications and month end closing applications. Part of our goal is to work with your team to evaluate the applications that are relevant to your business, to evaluate your needs, and to then help management decide which applications are appropriate for your business. From there, we determine the best implementation resources, whether that be our team, or an application-specific expert.
Do you offer support after the audit is completed?
Yes! If your team chooses to implement an application we support, we can become part of your implementation team. However, sometimes our recommendations will point to a solution that is beyond the abilities of our small team to implement. In this situation (which is mostly in more complex businesses), we will work with you to find an appropriate implementation specialist through our extensive professional network.
How much does the Small Business Financial Systems Audit service cost?
Due to the customized nature of our Small Business System Audits, determining the price is a process based upon your business’ individual needs. However, the minimum investment is $2,500.
Are you ready to optimize your financial systems?
Contact us today to schedule your Small Business Financial Systems Audit and take the first step towards modernizing and optimizing your operations.