The Disruptors: Al Anderson on The New Manifesto for Audit

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr
CPA Trendlines

Al Anderson is out to change audit as accountants know it. Auditors, he declares, are spending too much time being busy instead of being valuable.

• Get the free preview of his forthcoming handbook: “The New Manifesto for Accountants," Instant Download (PDF)

Anderson is preaching a revolutionary framework for audit leadership, described in his forthcoming handbook from CPA Trendlines.

Auditors, he says, should be looking closer at transactions, instead of focusing narrowly on the balance sheet.

The transactional approach, rather than a balance sheet approach, provides more value to the client because it reveals the bumps in the road that happen as a transaction rolls up to the general ledger so that it can be recorded correctly.

For example, consider invoices that could go out earlier, which causes clients to lose a few days of cash flow. Consider, for example, invoices that could go out earlier, which causes clients to lose a few days of cash flow. You're unlikely to notice it if you tie the receivable sub-ledger to the general ledger.