Achieve substantial time savings during busy season for Fund of Fund audit preparation and reviews

Challenge

Weaver's investment fund audit team, focused on audits of Hedge Funds, Private Equity Funds, Fund-of-Funds and Venture Capital Funds, encountered inefficiencies and potential errors in their audit procedures caused by manual and repetitive tasks. The absence of cross-referencing between Excel data and source documents significantly slowed down the review process and increased the likelihood of errors. These challenges not only hindered the team's productivity but also increased the potential for inaccuracies in their investment fund audits, particularly during their busiest times of year.

"DataSnipper has been a game-changer for our team. It's not just about saving time; it's about improving the quality of our work and giving us the confidence that we're delivering the best possible service to our clients."

Alison Styron

Supervisor - Audit

Solution

To address these challenges, Weaver's investment fund audit group seamlessly integrated DataSnipper into their workflow, leveraging its automation features to optimize audit procedures effectively. By automating the extraction of data from source documents to Excel, DataSnipper significantly reduced manual effort, allowing team members to focus on more strategic audit tasks. Moreover, DataSnipper’s capability to seamlessly cross-reference extracted data to source documents not only improved accuracy but also accelerated the review process. Features such as Text Snip and Table Snip proved invaluable in extracting data into Excel with precision, eliminating errors and enhancing the review process, ultimately enabling the team to deliver high-quality audit services more efficiently.

Substantial Time Savings During Busy Season

The adoption of DataSnipper brought substantial time savings to Weaver's investment fund audit practice. From January 1 to April 1, the organization reported a savings of 4,788 hours of total time, equivalent to an average of nine hours per team member. This significant reduction in time spent on manual tasks allowed the team to allocate their resources more efficiently and focus on higher-value audit activities.

The investment fund audit team at Weaver has experienced significant time savings on Fund-of-Funds audits, which typically involve extensive data entry and tie-outs to confirmations and capital account statements. With DataSnipper, the preparation of investment workpapers now takes 25 to 50 percent less time, and the review of these workpapers takes approximately 75 percent less time.

Previously, some workpapers had over 100 investments that required manual tie-outs to PDF files. Now, Weaver imports all relevant files into DataSnipper and links the amounts directly. This process eliminates the need to manually enter amounts from PDF files, reducing errors and saving time for the preparers. The most significant time savings are realized by the reviewers, who previously had to manually check 100+ tie-outs. Now, reviewers can quickly use arrow keys to verify tie-outs, streamlining the entire review process. DataSnipper’s intelligent automation increased productivity and accuracy, ultimately delivering more efficient and timely results for their clients.

Weaver reported the following time savings: