We asked 150 audit professionals and 100 business leaders across Benelux, Spain and Italy how audits actually get delivered. The gap between what firms believe and what clients experience turned out wider than anyone expected. This 60-page report, produced with Ghent University, maps every detail.
Each of these came directly from the survey data. They paint a picture of an industry that talks about clients but builds for itself.
Most audit engagements run on email. Every document request, every follow-up, every "did you receive this?" sits in someone's inbox. 61% of the clients we surveyed said they'd resubmitted files because they never got confirmation the first ones arrived.
Nearly three quarters of firms claim they've gone through a digital transformation. But when asked about the tools they actually use with clients, only 19% said they were satisfied.
Two thirds of the business leaders we spoke to said their auditor asked them to re-explain things that should already be on file. Org charts. Revenue models. Group structures. Year after year, the same conversation.
No timeline. No progress view. No idea who's responsible for what. Seven out of ten clients said they had no visibility into audit progress, responsibilities, or deadlines. So they call. And the auditor stops what they're doing to answer.
Auditors lose up to a third of their time tracking progress, chasing updates, and confirming what's been received. For a 100-person firm, that translates into €1.2M to €6M per year in unbillable time.
Three quarters of auditors surveyed can access documents they have no reason to see. Former users keep file access. Two-factor authentication is often missing. In a profession built on confidentiality, that's a structural risk.
Coordination costs, security gaps, the satisfaction disconnect between partners and managers, and what clients actually want from their auditor (spoiler: it's not another portal).
Get the full reportWe structured the report around the questions audit leaders actually ask us. Each section includes the raw numbers, a comparison across markets, and specific recommendations.
150 responses from audit professionals in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain and Italy. Broken down so you can compare your firm to the rest.
100+ business leaders scored their audit experience on communication, tools, and value. The satisfaction gap between what firms think and what clients report is a full 40 points on some questions.
We estimated how many hours a 100-person firm loses to email follow-ups, duplicate requests, and manual tracking. The number lands between €1.2M and €6M per year in unbillable time.
76% of auditors surveyed can open documents they have no reason to see. We mapped the access control problem across firm sizes and looked at what GDPR exposure that creates.
73% of firms say they've adopted digital tools. But when you ask about specific workflows (PBC lists, file collection, client communication), most of them still run on email and spreadsheets.
Eight concrete changes, ranked by effort and impact. These came from cross-referencing the survey data with what we see working at firms that have already moved.
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Published by Alkmist in collaboration with Ghent University, 2025.
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We also offer a 45-minute readiness call where we go through the data in the context of your firm. You get the full raw dataset, a workflow review, and a list of specific bottlenecks we spot. No charge for the first session.
Their clients told a different story. The gap between those two versions is where the report gets interesting. Grab your copy, take 20 minutes to read it, and see where your firm sits.
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