Field Notes
Bank confirmations: why they stall on Hong Kong audits
Third-party confirmations leave your shared drive and enter bank queues — tracking them separately prevents false comfort on the PBC list.
On many Hong Kong statutory audits, ledger uploads finish while bank confirmations remain open. Finance teams then report “mostly done” because internal items are green — yet the auditor cannot close cash.
Separate the corridor
In our registers, confirmations never share the same status bucket as self-prepared schedules. A confirmation is sent, acknowledged by bank, received by auditor, or chased. Those states matter more than a generic “in progress”.
Practical chase habits
- Authorise the auditor’s confirmation letters early — wet-ink or approved e-sign delays are still common.
- List every account, including dormant ones the auditor sampled.
- Record which colleague holds the relationship with each bank officer.
Document request tracking cannot accelerate the bank’s internal post, but it can stop the team from discovering a missing confirmation three days before the board papers are due.