AuditTrove user guide

The illustration: Okafor Bello & Co and Ikeja Polymers Manufacturing Limited

Who should read what

Every step says who normally does it. Start with chapter 1 (everyone), then read the chapters for your role:

Contents

1. 1. Getting started: signing in and two-factor authentication

   Open AuditTrove from troveuniverse.com, set up two-factor authentication, sign in with a password, reset a forgotten password, and manage your own devices, notifications and profile.

   17 steps

   1. 1.1 Open AuditTrove from troveuniverse.com
   2. 1.2 Link your authenticator app
   3. 1.3 Save your recovery codes
   4. 1.4 The dashboard of a new firm
   5. 1.5 The sign-in page
   6. 1.6 Sign in for the first time
   7. 1.7 Set up two-factor authentication
   8. 1.8 Choose your own password
   9. 1.9 Your dashboard
   10. 1.10 Forgotten your password? Ask for a link
   11. 1.11 The reset email
   12. 1.12 Choose a new password
   13. 1.13 Your two-factor page
   14. 1.14 Signed-in devices
   15. 1.15 Notifications
   16. 1.16 Your email preferences
   17. 1.17 Your profile and registration

2. 2. Setting up the firm: settings, people and roles

   Record the firm's details and audit policies, the public interest entity settings, email, billing and scheduled jobs; add people and give them roles; build a custom role; record registrations and the rotation rules.

   16 steps

   1. 2.1 Record the firm's details
   2. 2.2 Set the audit policies
   3. 2.3 Public interest entities
   4. 2.4 Assurance standards
   5. 2.5 Notifications and email
   6. 2.6 Billing settings
   7. 2.7 Scheduled jobs and data export
   8. 2.8 Add a person
   9. 2.9 Give the temporary password privately
   10. 2.10 The people in the firm
   11. 2.11 Roles and permissions
   12. 2.12 Create a custom role
   13. 2.13 Registrations
   14. 2.14 The rotation rules
   15. 2.15 Firms
   16. 2.16 When every seat is in use

3. 3. Security and compliance

   Sign-in with Microsoft or Google, the controls that apply to the firm, malware checks and quarantine, the audit trail export, access reviews and the public trust page.

   7 steps

   1. 3.1 Sign in with Microsoft or Google
   2. 3.2 Security & compliance
   3. 3.3 Malware checks on uploads
   4. 3.4 The access review
   5. 3.5 Record the review
   6. 3.6 Export the audit trail
   7. 3.7 The trust page

4. 4. Links with SQMTrove, BookTrove and accounting systems

   Switch on the SQMTrove link, register the firm's apps for Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage and Zoho Books, and see where each link is used.

   5 steps

   1. 4.1 Register the firm's accounting-system apps
   2. 4.2 Connect a client's ledger
   3. 4.3 The SQMTrove link: switch it on
   4. 4.4 Linked with SQMTrove
   5. 4.5 What has been shared

5. 5. Accepting the client

   Add a prospective client, have a partner accept it, and see the client's page with its portal users, tenure and non-audit services.

   6 steps

   1. 5.1 Add the prospective client
   2. 5.2 The client waits for acceptance
   3. 5.3 The partner accepts the client
   4. 5.4 The client list
   5. 5.5 The client's page
   6. 5.6 Tenure, rotation and non-audit services

6. 6. Creating the engagement: team, independence and acceptance

   Create the engagement, check the standards applied, build the team, declare independence, complete AC-1 and AC-3, approve acceptance and prepare the engagement letter.

   14 steps

   1. 6.1 Create the engagement
   2. 6.2 Partner, manager and the quality review
   3. 6.3 The engagement overview
   4. 6.4 The standards applied and the auditing standard
   5. 6.5 Build the engagement team
   6. 6.6 Declare independence
   7. 6.7 Conclude and submit
   8. 6.8 The team's declarations
   9. 6.9 The completed team
   10. 6.10 Document acceptance (AC-1)
   11. 6.11 Sign the working paper
   12. 6.12 The sign-off trail
   13. 6.13 Approve acceptance
   14. 6.14 The letters and communications

7. 7. The client portal and electronic signatures

   Invite the client's people to the portal by email, and send the engagement letter for electronic signature by a portal user and a director who signs with an emailed code.

   12 steps

   1. 7.1 The portal invitation
   2. 7.2 The client chooses a password
   3. 7.3 The client portal
   4. 7.4 Send the engagement letter for signature
   5. 7.5 Out for signature
   6. 7.6 The signing email
   7. 7.7 Ask for a code
   8. 7.8 Enter the code
   9. 7.9 Review and sign
   10. 7.10 Signed
   11. 7.11 The engagement letter gate is met
   12. 7.12 The signature record

8. 8. Planning and risk assessment

   Import the trial balance from Excel, check the mapping, set materiality, perform preliminary analytics, identify significant accounts, assess risks and fraud, record controls and tailor the programme.

   17 steps

   1. 8.1 Open the trial balance
   2. 8.2 Import the Excel workbook
   3. 8.3 Check the balances and the mapping
   4. 8.4 Lead schedules
   5. 8.5 Calculate materiality
   6. 8.6 Materiality on file
   7. 8.7 Preliminary analytical review
   8. 8.8 Significant accounts
   9. 8.9 Inherent risk by assertion
   10. 8.10 Add a risk of your own
   11. 8.11 The risk register
   12. 8.12 Understanding the entity (RA-1)
   13. 8.13 The fraud risk assessment (RA-4)
   14. 8.14 Record a key control
   15. 8.15 The risk and control matrix
   16. 8.16 The audit programme and the industry pack
   17. 8.17 Progress by area

9. 9. External confirmations (ISA 505)

   Record each confirming party with its address and where the address came from, get the client's authorisation, email the requests from AuditTrove, receive replies on the public reply page, and deal with exceptions and non-responses.

   15 steps

   1. 9.1 Add a confirmation
   2. 9.2 The confirmations to send
   3. 9.3 An address that needs thought
   4. 9.4 The client's authorisation
   5. 9.5 The client signs the authorisation
   6. 9.6 Send the request
   7. 9.7 Requests sent
   8. 9.8 What the bank receives
   9. 9.9 The public reply page
   10. 9.10 The bank replies
   11. 9.11 Reply sent
   12. 9.12 The reply in the file
   13. 9.13 An exception becomes a misstatement
   14. 9.14 No reply: alternative procedures
   15. 9.15 The confirmations completed

10. 10. Fieldwork: procedures, evidence, analytics and misstatements

    Record procedures, link evidence to figures, sample, test journals, analyse whole populations (including more than 250,000 rows and Excel files), recalculate leases, test controls, clear review notes and record misstatements and deficiencies.

    22 steps

    1. 10.1 The programme in fieldwork
    2. 10.2 Record the work performed
    3. 10.3 Evidence linked to the figure
    4. 10.4 Tickmarks and cross-references
    5. 10.5 Plan a sample
    6. 10.6 Record the results
    7. 10.7 Journal entry testing
    8. 10.8 Import a population from Excel
    9. 10.9 The whole general ledger: 312,480 lines
    10. 10.10 Run the tests on every line
    11. 10.11 Spreadsheet working papers
    12. 10.12 Create a recalculation
    13. 10.13 Enter the lease
    14. 10.14 The recalculation against the client's figures
    15. 10.15 The recalculation papers
    16. 10.16 Test a control
    17. 10.17 Review notes
    18. 10.18 Respond and clear
    19. 10.19 Propose an adjustment
    20. 10.20 The summary of misstatements
    21. 10.21 Corrected and uncorrected entries
    22. 10.22 Control deficiencies

11. 11. Client requests, the client portal and malware checks

    Ask the client for documents with a template, discuss them in comments, let the client assign and bulk-upload, check what the malware checks hold, and accept what the client sends.

    12 steps

    1. 11.1 Apply a request template
    2. 11.2 Ask for a document
    3. 11.3 Requests waiting for the client
    4. 11.4 The client's overview
    5. 11.5 Assign requests to colleagues
    6. 11.6 Comments on a request
    7. 11.7 Upload and send
    8. 11.8 Upload several files as a ZIP
    9. 11.9 A held file
    10. 11.10 Release a held file
    11. 11.11 The scanning log
    12. 11.12 Accept what the client sent

12. 12. Completion: financial statements, disclosures, fraud and the report

    Draft the financial statements from the adjusted trial balance, complete the disclosure checklist, conclude on fraud and going concern, form the opinion and prepare the letters.

    12 steps

    1. 12.1 Draft the financial statements
    2. 12.2 The statement of financial position
    3. 12.3 The tie-out
    4. 12.4 The disclosure checklist
    5. 12.5 Progress by standard
    6. 12.6 The checklist on each note
    7. 12.7 The fraud matters log
    8. 12.8 Stand back: fraud and going concern together
    9. 12.9 Form the opinion
    10. 12.10 The report preview
    11. 12.11 Letters and communications
    12. 12.12 Record when letters were sent and signed

13. 13. The partner's review, the quality review and signing the report

    See whether the engagement partner has reviewed the significant risks, judgements and key stages (ISA 220), complete the engagement quality review with SQMTrove's record, check readiness and sign the report.

    10 steps

    1. 13.1 The partner's review so far
    2. 13.2 Time and events
    3. 13.3 The quality review is tracked in SQMTrove
    4. 13.4 The EQR gate
    5. 13.5 The engagement quality review
    6. 13.6 Confirm the review
    7. 13.7 Every item reviewed
    8. 13.8 Readiness to sign
    9. 13.9 Sign the auditor's report
    10. 13.10 Reported

14. 14. After the report: binder, archive package, filing and the recycle bin

    Print the reports and the binder, build the archive package, prepare the FRC filing pack, archive the file, open an amendment, roll forward, and delete an engagement created in error.

    19 steps

    1. 14.1 Engagement reports
    2. 14.2 Build the audit file binder
    3. 14.3 The archive package
    4. 14.4 Print the auditor's report
    5. 14.5 The management letter
    6. 14.6 The FRC filing pack
    7. 14.7 Track the filing
    8. 14.8 Archive the file
    9. 14.9 Archived and locked
    10. 14.10 A documented amendment
    11. 14.11 Roll forward to next year
    12. 14.12 Delete an engagement created in error
    13. 14.13 The recycle bin
    14. 14.14 Restore
    15. 14.15 A reported file cannot be deleted
    16. 14.16 Deleting a client
    17. 14.17 The audit trail
    18. 14.18 Verify the seals
    19. 14.19 The firm's dashboard

15. 15. An ISA for LCE audit of a client that keeps its books in BookTrove

    Choose the ISA for LCE for a less complex entity, conclude on applicability in AC-4L, link the client's BookTrove, pull the trial balance and journals, send adjustments and requests to BookTrove and read the answers back.

    17 steps

    1. 15.1 Not for a listed entity
    2. 15.2 Create the audit under the ISA for LCE
    3. 15.3 The auditing standard on the overview
    4. 15.4 AC-4L: is the ISA for LCE applicable?
    5. 15.5 The stand-back
    6. 15.6 Link the client's BookTrove
    7. 15.7 Linked
    8. 15.8 Pull the trial balance from BookTrove
    9. 15.9 Pull the journals into data analytics
    10. 15.10 The journals as a population
    11. 15.11 The programme referenced to the Parts
    12. 15.12 Send a proposed adjustment to BookTrove
    13. 15.13 Read the client's decision back
    14. 15.14 Send document requests to BookTrove
    15. 15.15 Get the answers from BookTrove
    16. 15.16 The report in the ISA for LCE wording
    17. 15.17 Move the audit to the ISAs

16. 16. Group audits and component auditors (ISA 600 (Revised))

    Record the components and their scope, set component materiality, send instructions, give a component auditor guest access to their own component, review their reporting and clearance, and consolidate the trial balances.

    9 steps

    1. 16.1 Components and scoping
    2. 16.2 Component materiality
    3. 16.3 Instructions and reporting
    4. 16.4 The consolidation
    5. 16.5 Invite the component auditor
    6. 16.6 The component auditor's view
    7. 16.7 Deliverables, reporting and clearance
    8. 16.8 Review the submissions
    9. 16.9 The group trial balance

17. 17. Other kinds of engagement

    Reviews, compilations, agreed-upon procedures, special purpose frameworks, single statements, interim reviews, ICFR assurance, sustainability assurance and service organisation reports.

    13 steps

    1. 17.1 Choose the kind
    2. 17.2 A review of financial statements
    3. 17.3 The review report
    4. 17.4 A compilation
    5. 17.5 Agreed-upon procedures
    6. 17.6 A special purpose framework (ISA 800)
    7. 17.7 A single statement (ISA 805)
    8. 17.8 A review of interim financial information
    9. 17.9 Assurance on ICFR
    10. 17.10 ICFR deficiencies
    11. 17.11 Sustainability assurance
    12. 17.12 A service organisation report
    13. 17.13 The firm's assurance settings

18. 18. Scheduling, time, WIP and billing

    Book people on engagements, record and approve time and expenses, set charge-out rates and budgets, raise fee notes with VAT and WHT, record receipts and read the practice reports.

    12 steps

    1. 18.1 Record time
    2. 18.2 Approve timesheets
    3. 18.3 The planner
    4. 18.4 My schedule
    5. 18.5 Charge-out and cost rates
    6. 18.6 Expenses
    7. 18.7 Engagements: budget and WIP
    8. 18.8 A draft fee note
    9. 18.9 The issued fee note
    10. 18.10 Receipts and the fee notes
    11. 18.11 WIP and debtors
    12. 18.12 Practice reports

19. 19. Quality management, rotation, inspections and the methodology

    Annual independence confirmations, the EQR register, monitoring, the firm-wide partner review view, rotation and tenure, the regulator's inspection pack, the inspector's read-only access and the methodology library.

    16 steps

    1. 19.1 Annual independence
    2. 19.2 The EQR register
    3. 19.3 Monitoring
    4. 19.4 Partner review across the firm
    5. 19.5 Flags and late reviews
    6. 19.6 Rotation and tenure
    7. 19.7 The regulator's inspection pack
    8. 19.8 Registrations, findings and independence
    9. 19.9 The inspector's read-only access
    10. 19.10 The methodology library: audit programme
    11. 19.11 Working-paper templates
    12. 19.12 Industry packs
    13. 19.13 What's new in the methodology
    14. 19.14 Materiality guidance
    15. 19.15 Controls and sampling parameters
    16. 19.16 Completion gates by kind

20. 20. AI assistance

    Set up the firm's own AI provider and key, the usage log, agent runs, the prompt library and asking the methodology.

    6 steps

    1. 20.1 The firm's AI provider and key
    2. 20.2 Who may use it, and the limits
    3. 20.3 The usage log
    4. 20.4 Agent runs
    5. 20.5 The prompt library
    6. 20.6 Ask the methodology

21. 21. Working together and working offline

    See who else is in the file, talk in the team chat, and make an engagement available offline with changes synchronised on reconnection.

    3 steps

    1. 21.1 The team chat
    2. 21.2 Make an engagement available offline
    3. 21.3 Offline copies and changes

Also in this guide

• About this guide
• What's new in September 2026
• An audit at a glance
• Use cases: where to find what you need
• Roles: who can do what
• The completion gates
• Index of features
• Frequently asked questions
• Glossary