Audit support
PBC list management
PBC list management from Finbryn turns your UK auditor's provided by client request list into owned tasks with due dates. Our accounting team gathers documents, tracks what is delivered against what is outstanding, and answers follow-up questions during fieldwork so your finance team is not chasing the list alone.
Auditor request list
Illustrative client · August 2026
GBP
- Trial balance and general ledger exportDone
- Bank confirmations and statementsDone
- Receivables and payables listingsDone
- Fixed asset register with additionsIn progress
- Accruals and prepayments supportNext
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Two deadlines racing each other
A UK statutory audit almost never runs on its own calendar. It sits alongside the year end accounts filing at Companies House, and the two dates have a habit of colliding in the same fortnight if nobody is watching both. Sorting the PBC list early is as much about protecting the filing deadline as it is about the audit itself.
What a forty line request actually is
Each line on a typical list points somewhere different: a bank portal, a lender's loan agreement, a folder of board minutes, a lease nobody has looked at since it was signed. A finance manager mid way through their own month end has little appetite left to chase forty separate owners for forty separate documents. So we take the list once your registered audit firm issues it, split it into named tasks against the engagement letter's date, and chase each one down to whoever actually holds it.
Fieldwork does not stop asking
Once fieldwork opens, follow-up questions keep arriving, usually on a short fuse. Anything factual, a missing statement, a reconciling item, gets answered directly. Anything resting on judgement, an estimate, a provision, a going concern view, is routed to you first; nothing leaves on our say alone.
Carrying it into next year
Whichever items took longest to track down this year get flagged in a closing note, so next year's list starts from that record instead of a blank inbox. This sits downstream of audit-ready books, since a schedule already tied out there usually answers two or three list items before anyone asks.
The point of doing it this way
Taking the chasing off a finance manager's plate is not about removing them from the audit. It is about giving back the hours that a forty line list eats without ever calling for a judgement only they can make, so those hours go into the close or the board pack instead.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: PBC list management
Does the audit firm send the PBC list directly to you?
Usually your finance team receives it first and shares it with us, though we can coordinate directly with the audit firm once you authorise that contact.
What if an item on the list genuinely does not apply to us?
We flag it back to the auditor rather than guessing, since only they can confirm whether a request applies to your specific engagement.
Can you track a PBC list alongside our Companies House filing deadline?
Yes. We keep the audit evidence and the accounts preparation on the same calendar, so the two deadlines are managed together rather than colliding in the same week.
What if the PBC list keeps growing after fieldwork starts?
A growing request list mid-fieldwork is common once testing surfaces a new question, and we track additions the same way as the original list, with the same source, owner and due date fields, so nothing gets lost in an email thread separate from the tracker.
Do you flag items that are likely to be requested even before they are asked for?
Yes, based on the prior year's request list and the standard items a UK auditor typically needs for your entity type, we prepare likely schedules ahead of the formal PBC list landing, which shortens the gap between the list arriving and it being fully answered.
Who decides what goes on the PBC list?
The audit firm sets the list. We work through it, gather what is needed and flag anything that genuinely does not apply to your business.
Can you respond directly to auditor follow-up questions?
We handle documentation and factual detail; questions that call for management judgment go back to you before a response goes out.
How is pBC list management priced?
Pricing for pBC list management depends on your transaction volume, the software you use, and how much cleanup is needed before ongoing work starts. Current ranges are published on the pricing page, and your exact fee is confirmed in writing before anything begins.
What software works with pBC list management?
PBC list management runs inside QuickBooks Online or Xero, whichever you already use. If you are not yet set up in either, we can configure a file in your name so you keep ownership of it once the engagement is under way.
Related services
- Audit supportAudit-ready booksMonthly and year-end books maintained with the support and schedules an external auditor expects to see on day one, so fieldwork starts without a scramble to reconstruct records.
- Audit supportWorking paper preparationSupporting schedules and reconciliations built the way an auditor expects to see them, cross-referenced to the trial balance, so review comments come back with fewer open questions.
Industries
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.