The internet is full of various audit and regulatory examination tips. Heck, we’ve written more than a few blogs about them ourselves. The thing is, so many of the exam tips floating around out there are truly commonsense items. Once you’ve been through an audit or two, you kind of know the deal.

However, we live in a vibrant, exciting, ever-changing universe. And we want to keep our content fresh and our tips even fresher. So, with that in mind, we’d like to present two uncommon regulatory exam tips for your credit union’s next audit.

These two credit union exam tips are guaranteed to make your auditor or examiner smile. (Or maybe they’ll just give you a solid nod of approval.)

Two Uncommon Regulatory Exam Tips for an Extra Smooth Audit from Brad Powell on Vimeo.

Report Your Status Often

I remember going on a few road trips when I was younger. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I must have been a little annoying when I occasionally asked if we were there yet. Or if we were almost there. Or how far we’d gone. Or how long till we got there. Or where we were.

You get the idea.

But I had to know!

Just having some understanding that we were indeed progressing eased my mind and my nerves. It helped me see that something was indeed being accomplished, even if it didn’t exactly fit my preferred schedule.

Audits and examinations are obviously very different. But also, they’re kind of the same. Your auditor or examiner gave you a road map of sorts, and it’s their job to ensure you get from point A to point B without issue. Naturally, they’d like to hear some kind of update on your progress.

Developing and presenting regular status reports will thrill your examiner. Here’s all you need to do:

At least once per week, list all the deliverables and items in your credit union exam:

• Which items have been completed
• Which items are in progress and will finish shortly
• Which items are farther from completion or on hold

It sounds like another one of those commonsense audit tips, right? (That’s how you know it’s a good one.) But it’s not! Surprisingly, most of the credit unions we’ve worked with or spoken to don’t compile regular status reports for their examiners!

So, if you start, you’ll be a little ahead of the pack. You’ll also make your examiners very, very happy with you.

Group Your Deliverables Clearly

Most credit unions enjoy long document request lists from their examiners.

Okay, maybe “enjoy” isn’t exactly the right word there.

But you get the idea. Examiners are going to cover multiple areas of inquiry over the course of a single examination. And your audit team isn’t going to have them all done at once. (That’s just how it goes.)

So, let’s say you’re handing in deliverables or documentation for item 17. You should make sure that everything related to item 17 is organized and clearly grouped. If you can tell your examiner that everything related to item 17 is in a clearly labeled folder, you’ll make their job easier.

You’ll also make your own job easier because you won’t have to answer any follow-up questions about where to find things. And you’ll establish trust with your examiner, which might pay dividends in the future.

FREE: Audit Checklist for Credit Unions

4 key principles and 9 questions to jumpstart your audit planning. From leading credit unions.

More About Audit and Regulatory Exam Tips

As we mentioned at the beginning of this blog, there are countless audit and exam tips swirling around the internet. But you’ve probably already seen them in some form or another. This is your chance to review a couple less common exam tips.

Both of these tips are geared toward going the extra mile for your examiners. Audits can be stressful and high-pressure situations for all parties. Showing the that you care and that you’re on top of things can make a big difference in your audit results.

Subscribe to our blog to learn more about credit union audits, exams, and the greater regulatory landscape. Or follow the links below to see what kind of commonsense regulatory exam tips we’ve contributed to the internet!

TIPS FOR CREDIT UNION CEOS PREPARING FOR A REGULATORY EXAMINATION

HOW TO PREPARE FOR AN AUDIT: 11 AUDIT EFFICIENCY TIPS FOR CREDIT UNIONS