Audit & SEC
Audit prep and SEC compliance
First-audit playbooks, technical accounting positions (ASC 606, 718, 842), and the controls infrastructure pre-IPO companies need.
A first financial-statement audit derails more startups than founders expect. It runs four to six months, consumes most of a finance team's calendar, and reveals every corner the accounting function had been skipping. The reason it derails companies is not that audits are hard. It is that most startups discover what an audit requires after fieldwork has already started, and by then the controller is responding to PBC items instead of running the close.
This section covers what auditors actually test, how to prepare a PBC list as a project plan rather than a chore list, and the three technical accounting standards where first-audit clients most consistently get findings: ASC 606 revenue recognition for SaaS companies, ASC 718 stock compensation expense, and ASC 842 lease accounting. It also covers the controls infrastructure pre-IPO companies need, from segregation of duties to board-approved policies, and how AI use in the finance function belongs on the audit committee's agenda rather than left to management.
Read the first-audit playbook first, then work through the ASC posts before you need them.
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