50 finalisations, 3 juniors, one partner: how to run audit season without missing a deadline

Picture a small firm in August: one partner, three juniors and fifty finalisations — private companies, partnership firms, a few proprietors with tax audits. Every client wants the accounts "by next week", and every one of them sent the trial balance late. The firms that get through September calmly are rarely the ones with more staff. They are the ones that knew in June which file was due when, what stage each one was at, and how many hours of partner review the season would need. This article sets out the deadlines that bind, then a simple way to run the season around them.

The deadlines that actually bind

For a company with a 31 March 2026 year-end (FY 2025-26), the statutory dates run from the AGM:

For tax audits — companies and non-corporate clients alike — FY 2025-26 is still governed by the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from tax year 2026-27). The tax audit report is due by the "specified date", one month before the return due date under section 139(1). For audited cases that meant 30 September 2026 for the report and 31 October 2026 for the return; where a transfer pricing report under section 92E is required, the return is due on 30 November and the report a month earlier.

On 28 September 2026 the CBDT extended the return due date for audited cases to 21 November 2026, and with it the date for the audit report to 21 October 2026 — but not for cases where section 92E applies. Extensions like this are announced by press release and circular, often close to the original date. Plan the season to the statutory date and treat any extension as slack, not as the plan.

One date is missing from every table: the Board meeting at which the accounts are approved. The audit report cannot be dated before the Board approves the statements, and the AGM notice needs the audited accounts. For most company clients, that Board date is the real deadline for your file — so ask for it at the start of the season.

Triage: sort the list by deadline and by risk

Put all fifty finalisations on one list with four columns: the client's real deadline (Board meeting, bank renewal, tax audit), the date the trial balance can realistically arrive, the risk of the file, and who will do it. Then sort.

• By deadline. Clients needing the accounts for a bank renewal in July or a tender in August go first. Companies whose Boards meet in the last week of September cannot all be done in that week — spread them.
• By risk. First-year clients, files with a modified report last year, going concern doubts, related-party heavy companies, and anything near the small-company or CARO thresholds need more partner time. Schedule them earlier, not later.
• By readiness. A client whose books are still being written up is not a September problem — it is a June conversation. Say so in writing.

The output is a season calendar: which file is due when, and which week each one should reach the partner.

A stage board: one line per file, one stage at a time

A spreadsheet tab or a whiteboard is enough, as long as every file sits in exactly one column and moves only forward:

The value of the board is in what it shows at a glance: ten files stuck at stage 3 means the queries are not coming back; eight files waiting at stage 5 means the partner is the bottleneck. Review it every Monday, and ask of every file that has not moved in a week: what is it waiting for, and who is chasing?

The query list goes out on day one

Often the cause of a late file is not the audit work — it is waiting for the client. Send the year-end request list (the "PBC" list: bank statements and confirmations, debtor and creditor balances, stock records, fixed asset additions, loan statements, tax and GST records) when the engagement starts, not when the trial balance arrives. Our year-end audit query list sets out the requests by area.

Then keep one running query sheet per client, with a status and a date on every query. Queries raised during the analytics stage go on the same sheet. When a query has been open for a week, it is a phone call, not another email. And before sign-off, every query is either answered or carried with a documented conclusion.

A standard work programme, tailored once

Juniors work fastest when every file follows the same programme, and the review is fastest when the partner knows where to look. SA 300's application material accepts standard audit programmes for smaller audits, provided they are tailored to the circumstances of the engagement. In practice that means: drop the steps that do not apply with the reason, add steps for this year's risks, and size the work using materiality. The guide to tailoring an audit programme under SA 300 covers this in detail. For the season plan, the point is simple: tailoring is a ten-minute job at the start of each file, done by the senior person, so the junior is not deciding the scope alone.

Partner review windows

SA 220 makes the engagement partner responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of the audit and for reviews under the firm's policies — and requires the partner, on or before the date of the report, to be satisfied through a review of the documentation and discussion with the team that sufficient appropriate evidence has been obtained. That review cannot be compressed into the night before the Board meeting for twenty files at once.

• Book review windows in the season calendar — for example, two fixed slots a day from August, each one assigned to a file that reached stage 5.
• Review in writing. The partner raises review points on the file; the junior clears each one with a note or turns it into a client query; the partner closes it. Nothing is cleared verbally.
• Review early on high-risk files. A half-hour look at the analytics of a risky file in stage 3 saves a rework in stage 5.
• Use a short pre-signing checklist, completed by the team before the file reaches the partner, so the review time goes on judgement rather than arithmetic.

SQC 1 asks firms to monitor the workload and availability of engagement partners so that they have sufficient time for their responsibilities, and to assign staff with the necessary capabilities, competence and time. In a one-partner firm, that monitoring is the season plan.

Capacity planning: the arithmetic, in June

A simple calculation, with numbers chosen only to illustrate the method — use your own from last year's files:

On these assumptions the season does not fit — and it is far better to know that in June. The levers are the usual ones: start the simple files in May and June, when the trial balances can be had; move non-urgent non-corporate files to after the company deadlines where their own dates allow; take in an article or a part-time senior for the peak; cut junior time per file with a standard programme and templates; and protect the partner's review hours by moving client meetings and other work out of September. If none of these closes the gap, decline or defer a new engagement — SQC 1 expects the firm to consider whether it has the capabilities, competence, time and resources before accepting work.

After the signature

The season is not over at sign-off. The filing column of the board tracks what the company still has to file (ADT-1, AOC-4, MGT-7) and the tax audit upload; a reminder to the client a week before each date costs nothing. Under SA 230, the final audit file should be assembled within an appropriate time after the report date — ordinarily not more than 60 days. Put that date on the calendar too, so the November file assembly does not collide with the next deadline. And note, file by file, what made it late: next June's triage starts from that list.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Companies Act, 2013 — sections 92(4), 96(1), 101(1), 137(1), 139(1) (India Code)
• CBDT — press release, 28 September 2026 (PIB): due date for return of income for AY 2026-27 extended for audit cases; Circular No. 07/2026 of the same date
• Finance Act, 2026 — section 5 (Explanation 2 to section 139(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 substituted, with the due-date Table)
• ICAI — SA 220 Quality Control for an Audit of Financial Statements
• ICAI — SQC 1 Quality Control for Firms
• ICAI — SA 300 Planning an Audit of Financial Statements
• ICAI — SA 230 Audit Documentation

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