From Close to Confidence: An Audit-Ready Finance Session
Discover modern audit prep strategies that eliminate close friction and make audit season calmer, faster, and more predictable. Hosted by Jim Norton, CPA, Evangelist & Senior Product Manager.
From Close to Confidence: Designing An Audit-Ready Finance Operation
Year-end close is upon us. Auditors don’t audit effort, despite your best intentions. They audit evidence, consistency, and control. For many mid-market finance teams, that means frantic exports, version-control chaos, and long nights rebuilding reports and supporting schedules that should already exist.
In this recorded live session, an auditor, an accounting partner, and a finance leader walk through what audit readiness actually looks like in practice and why the most successful teams treat it as a year-round operating model, not a year-end fire drill.
What You’ll Learn:
- What auditors ask for first, and where audits most often slow down
- How strong finance teams prepare without burning out their people
- How Excel fits into audit-ready workflows when it’s connected to live ERP data
- What changes when reporting and reconciliations are designed to be repeatable
This session is for finance leaders who want January to feel boring in the best possible way.
Who Should Attend?
- Controllers, Directors of Finance and CFOs
- Accounting Managers responsible for close and audits
- Finance teams relying on ERPs
- Outsourced accounting and advisory partners supporting auditing and close
Featured Speakers
| Jim Norton, CPA Senior Product Manager, Velixo |
Jim is a licensed CPA and Senior Product Manager at Velixo, combining deep accounting expertise with hands-on experience in cloud ERP systems. His career spans auditing and CFO roles. |
| Jake Morris, CPA Partner, Client Accounting & Advisory Services, Whitley Penn |
Jake has more than 15 years of experience in the accounting industry, including ten in public accounting and four as a controller. Jake’s experience includes CFO and controller support, full-scale outsourced accounting, and special projects. He leads Whitley Penn’s Outsourced Controller & Interim Advisory team that focuses on assisting business owners, CFOs, and their teams with support for any internal accounting or financial needs that they have. He specializes in personnel and department management, month-end close procedures, financial statement presentation and analysis, and budgeting/forecasting. Before joining Whitley Penn, Jake served in corporate audit and then as a controller. In his role in corporate audit, he led audit teams in performing risk-based financial statement audits for public and private companies, as well as employee benefit plan audits. |
| Mark Tessar, CPA, CIA Audit Senior Manager, GRF CPAs & Advisors |
Mark is an accomplished Audit Principal with over 16 years of experience specializing in audits of tax-exempt organizations, including charities, private foundations, professional associations, and other nonprofit entities. As a licensed CPA and CIA, he brings deep expertise in both external and internal audit functions, with a strong focus on risk assessment, compliance, and governance. His work includes significant experience auditing international organizations and navigating the complexities of cross-border operations, global regulatory requirements, and multi-currency financial reporting. In addition to leading external audit engagements, Mark has conducted internal audits for a range of organizations, offering strategic insights that enhance accountability and strengthen control environments. |
| Heather Tausig, CPA, FPAC Director of Finance, Firewire Surfboards |
Heather Tausig is a strategic finance and accounting executive with 20 years of experience across public accounting and private industry. Her background spans audit, operational accounting, financial planning and analysis, and finance transformation in both the professional services and consumer goods sectors. As the Director of Finance for the Firewire Surfboards and Outerknown apparel brands, she is building the FP&A function from the ground up, implementing enabling technologies, and developing the financial models that drive reporting and forecasting. Beginning her career in accounting, she brings a strong grasp of financial mechanics and a unique ability to bridge accounting and financial planning. She is known for her collaborative leadership style, her skill in translating complex financial concepts for cross‑functional partners, and her commitment to building scalable processes that support long‑term growth. Throughout her career, Heather has led organizations through operational change, system implementations, and strategic planning cycles, grounding decisions in data, and thoughtful analysis. She is passionate about developing high‑performing teams and equipping business leaders with the insights they need to make informed, forward‑looking decisions. |