Hi everyone,
I am dealing with a CRA GST / HST audit of a small private corporation. The audit period covers 27 months.
For the Interview, the CRA auditor has requested upload of a copy of the QuickBooks backup file (.qbb). This file contains the entire company history since 2009 and we are naturally hesitant to provide information that is well outside the scope of the audit period. We want avoid scope creep, fishing expeditions, and such.
Should we offer to provide a detailed General Ledger exported to Excel (or csv) for the specific audit period only?
I’m looking for opinions and experiences from others who have been in this situation:
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Is offering the GL export an reasonable and common approach?
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At what point and under what circumstances should the QuickBooks backup file (.qbb) be provided?
Appreciate any insights you can share.
Thanks.
My comments… for what it is worth.. many many years ago(have been doing this professional for over 30 years)… it was standard practice for auditors to request the full accounting software back up and their Tech Dept converted it to a generic system that CRA agents are trained on.
In recent years, at least the last 15, this practice has changed and my requests consisted of G/L, Sampling of Sales, largest expenses, Vehicle Category, etc.. Of course, majority of audits are also virtual. I miss the days of making a coffee or tea for the auditor and picking their brain on the latest trends.
At some point, someone in the Corp had a conversation with the auditor/ must have been enough in the conversation for the auditor to feel uneasy and request the entire file.
Your post is unclear if you are an accounting professional or the Shareholder/bookkeeper of the Corp under audit.
I would assume if you are the latter that could also factor into it.
QB.. is not my software of choice as any client I have ever had who chose to use it had made major mistakes.
Best of luck, I would comply with the request. If you did nothing wrong in the past, there is nothing to find.