A field audit by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can be a controller's nightmare. But don't let an audit unnerve you. Your field audit will run smoothly if you assemble a competent audit team, approach the audit with the same level of preparedness and professionalism that you would devote to a meeting with an important client, and remember that you'll have the opportunity to appeal any decisions made by the auditor.

During the course of the field audit, the auditor may request additional data to aid in the examination of your tax records. Make your job easier by using the features in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 to quickly and easily provide the requested information for the year under audit. If you need to respond to required changes to your tax return, Excel can help you preserve a trail in your accounting books that includes the original numbers claimed and the audit adjustments. Excel also makes it simple to adjust calculations for a future year's books that are still open to reflect the audit changes.

Use the following articles and tools to make your field audit pain-free.

• Prepare for an IRS audit (Article)
  Follow these commonsense tips to make sure that your field audit is settled in a satisfactory manner.
• Use Excel to help with IRS audits (Article)
  Respond to audit requests by using Excel 2003.
• IRS audit information tracker (Template)
  Use this Excel 2003 template to track audit-related communications and document auditor requests.