Case study
Learn how Wear, Howell, Strickland, Quinn & Law, LLC works from anywhere and stay in sync with colleagues
See why Thomson Reuters Cloud Audit Suite permanently changes audit processes for Wear, Howell, Strickland, Quinn & Law, LLC
Introduction: Company background
Wear, Howell, Strickland, Quinn & Law has two offices in North Alabama with 30 employees, including six partners. The audit team consists of four members serving 40 audit clients across many industries, including government, nonprofit, agricultural, civic organizations, and service provider organizations.
Emily Reischman, CPA and Director of Assurance Services at the firm, spoke with Thomson Reuters about the firm’s switch to Thomson Reuters® Cloud Audit Suite. They made the switch in 2019 upon finding out that Creative Solutions would no longer be supported. The firm wanted to be comfortable using the cloud-based solution before the change happened.
Challenge: Secure, cloud-based solution
I remember talking to someone at Thomson Reuters about data security and our backups. We were concerned that if we later decided to go with a different software provider, we wouldn’t be able to get that information. Is it really ours? The Thomson Reuters employee walked me through the different layers of security protocols and verified that the information was ours and that it was simply hosted by Thomson Reuters. That and the reputation of Thomson Reuters was enough to make us feel like “Okay, everything is secure, and we haven’t lost ownership of our information.”
Solutions: Out with the old, in with the new
We chose Engagement Manager (previously AdvanceFlow) and Guided Assurance (previously Checkpoint® Engage) as the next logical step because we were already comfortable with Thomson Reuters from using Creative Solutions. Having a transition tool to take our Creative Solutions information and seamlessly route it into Engagement Manager was a factor that motivated us to stay with Thomson Reuters. We moved over 2-3 years’ worth of engagements to Engagement Manager to access prior year’s information easily.
As a firm, we were anxious about moving to the cloud, however we recognized there were obvious advantages to doing that. I think the COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t have displayed the advantages of Cloud Audit Suite any better. We were able to easily access our clients’ data from our homes and offices without having to do backups and restores. The ease of being able to access our workpapers from anywhere is the biggest benefit we have gotten for sure. Now I can’t imagine working without Cloud Audit Suite. We have the flexibility to work from anywhere and stay in sync with colleagues in real time.
I’ve accessed things from the beach, I’ve accessed things from my house, even from the side of the Interstate. I have literally been in the car when someone needed something, and if I’ve got my laptop and internet, I can get anything that they need.
“Now I can’t imagine working without Cloud Audit Suite. We have the flexibility to work from anywhere and stay in sync with colleagues in real time. I’ve accessed things from the beach, I’ve accessed things from my house, even from the side of the Interstate. I have literally been in the car when someone needed something, and if I’ve got my laptop and internet, I can get anything that they need.”
Emily Reischman
CPA at Wear, Howell, Strickland, Quinn & Law, LLC
Before Cloud Audit Suite, we were operating as a smaller firm. We only needed one employee in the file, so being able to pass a workpaper back and forth seamlessly was not previously important. I could back up a file and put it on my laptop and work on it, then bring it back to the office. If a partner wanted to get in it, they could but passing it back and forth was not a high priority for us.
When we switched to Guided Assurance and Engagement Manager, we grew our audit staff by 50%. The ability to work together as a unified team despite being in different places is important. We can work together on the same files and even in the same workpapers. Within seconds, we could look and help someone having an issue.
Before Cloud Audit Suite, we were operating as a smaller firm. We only needed one employee in the file, so being able to pass a workpaper back and forth seamlessly was not previously important. I could back up a file and put it on my laptop and work on it, then bring it back to the office. If a partner wanted to get in it, they could but passing it back and forth was not a high priority for us.
When we switched to Guided Assurance and Engagement Manager, we grew our audit staff by 50%. The ability to work together as a unified team despite being in different places is important. We can work together on the same files and even in the same workpapers. Within seconds, we could look and help someone having an issue.
Outcomes: Efficiency of the roll forward
If adopting technology increases the effectiveness of our audits, we want to be a part of it. It’s that simple. If there is something where the benefit outweighs the cost and is advantageous for us and our clients, we want to be a part of it.
With Cloud Audit Suite, it’s so much easier to roll forward audit programs and checklists rather than recreating the wheel. The wheel is already there and maybe you just straighten out a spoke here or there. The roll forward aspect has increased our efficiency and effectiveness since we are able to see comments in the audit programs from the previous year. I might go back and look at a prior year workpaper, but it’s unlikely I’m going to look at a prior year audit program, so if there are details documented in the audit program, I may miss those. I won’t in this case because all that information is rolled forward and I can modify it as I need to for the current year.
Also, if we come across a topic that’s new to a particular client, but has been handled with a past client, we can go back and look at previous audit workpapers and programs. I’d never previously had such easy access to every audit workpaper the firm has prepared, whether it’s my client or not, whether it was done last year, or three years ago. I have access to more information at my fingertips now than I ever did using a non-cloud-based audit software.
I feel like that is especially useful to a new auditor coming on board. If the auditor before them documented everything, I want them to be able to see those comments when they get into the new file. Plus, the roll forward aspect of having those signoffs and comments in the checklists and audit programs to me is invaluable. I cannot imagine going back to software that doesn’t have these capabilities.
For our entire audit department, myself included, Cloud Audit Suite makes us feel better and truly makes our job easier.
At a glance
Industry
Tax & Accounting
Headquarters
Decatur, AL
Solutions
Cloud Audit Suite
Engagement Manager
Guided Assurance
Year founded
1951
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