Financial Control Testing and Audit Findings
Test financial controls, trace exceptions to evidence, assess severity, and draft findings with specific remediation.
Before & after
Same prompt, same agent — the only difference is the skill.
This is an important governance issue. You'll want to evaluate your controls around expense submission, approval workflows, and reconciliation procedures. There are several categories of findings you might encounter. You should probably review your data for completeness and accuracy issues. Testing different control points could reveal risks. Documenting issues by severity level is standard practice. Have you identified specific areas of concern, or would you like to start with a comprehensive assessment?
CONTROL ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK Dataset: Q3 expense reports (847 transactions) Assertion categories mapped: existence, completeness, accuracy, timeliness Severity classification: material weakness | significant deficiency | standard issue FINDINGS IDENTIFIED Finding 1: Missing Receipt Attachments Assertion affected: Completeness Sample tested: 347 transactions Failed: 42 items (12%) Severity: Significant Deficiency Root cause: Mobile submission app doesn't enforce receipt upload Remediation: Require receipt before approval state transitions; add validation at approve button Finding 2: Approval by Spender's Manager Assertion affected: Authorization Sample tested: all approvals Failed: 14 transactions Severity: Material Weakness Root cause: Direct reports can approve own submissions via manager override Remediation: Escalate to next-level manager when submitter reports to approver Finding 3: Reimbursement Variance Assertion affected: Accuracy Sample tested: policy-compliant items Failed: 8 per-diem charges over limit Severity: Standard Issue Root cause: Policy limits updated but training incomplete Remediation: Email guidance to finance; update approval workflow with new limits AUDIT MEMO SUMMARY Three findings grouped by severity. Combined theme: process automation gaps expose authorization risk. Committee ready format with remediation timeline.
About this skill
A spreadsheet can reveal missing approvals without proving that a control failed or establishing how serious the failure is. Turn financial data and supporting evidence into reproducible control tests, defensible findings, and a severity assessment that separates confirmed failures from unanswered questions.
What it does
- Reconciles the test population and translates control policies into exact pass, fail, and unresolved criteria.
- Separates design deficiencies, operating failures, data anomalies, and missing evidence.
- Records each exception against its source record, financial statement assertion, and supporting evidence.
- Assesses severity using potential misstatement, likelihood, compensating controls, and the applicable reporting framework.
- Evaluates related deficiencies together without double-counting exposure or assuming a shared cause.
- Drafts findings with specific corrective controls, accountable roles, and retest criteria.
What you get
An evidence-linked testing summary and audit findings memo, scaled to the request. Each finding includes its classification or unresolved severity, rationale, evidence limits, and a concrete remediation plan.
Best for
Controllers, internal auditors, financial reporting teams, and risk teams reviewing transaction populations or preparing control findings for management and audit oversight.
SKILL.md preview
---
name: financial-control-testing-and-audit-findings
description: >-
Tests financial controls by reconciling populations, defining reproducible evidence criteria, tracing exceptions to assertions, and assessing individual and aggregate deficiency severity. Produces an evidence-linked audit findings memo with specific remediation. Use when the user says 'test these financial controls', 'check approvals over the threshold', 'write an audit findings memo', 'is this a material weakness?', 'our approval control keeps getting bypassed', 'the auditor says our evidence is insufficient', or 'do these small findings add up to a bigger issue?'.
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