Operational Audit in 24 Hours — Is It Possible?
An audit in 24 hours sounds like an unrealistic promise, but at Vistula Risk Solutions we do it every week for companies that must quickly make decisions about restructuring. We save liquidity, not paper, which is why our process is short, concrete, and devoid of unnecessary analyses. We focus on facts that determine whether your company will survive the next 3 months.
First 3.2 Hours: Hard Selection of Documents
We start work at 8:30 AM immediately after receiving access to data. We don't ask for hundreds of binders because we know you don't have time for that. We need statements from 3 main bank accounts from the last 17 months and a list of the 14 largest suppliers with whom you have open payment terms. Our team, consisting of 3 analysts, verifies this data in real-time, looking for bottlenecks that could block the company within the next 12 days.
We analyze your operational expenditure structure according to 11 risk indicators. We look for places where cash escapes unnoticed, for example, through poorly negotiated contracts with logistics companies or unnecessary technical subscriptions. In October 2024, in one of the Warsaw wholesalers, we found a leak of 21,300 PLN monthly simply through an analysis of fuel costs and servicing a fleet of 7 delivery vans.
In this phase, we don't assess your management style. We are exclusively interested in numbers and invoice due dates. (By the way, most business owners confuse profit with available cash, which comes out in the first hour of our work). We act fast because time is capital, and every hour of delay in the face of bankruptcy risk increases the personal liability risk for the board.
Facts, not forecasts. We focus on what you realistically have in your account, not on what you plan to sell in a month.
Midday Analysis: 83 Risk Control Points
At 1:00 PM, our analytical system finishes processing data from your accounting systems. We check 83 specific points that most often fail in medium-sized companies. We look at inventory turnover in the warehouse — if goods sit with you for more than 47 days, it means you've frozen money there that should be working to pay off loans. We also verify 5 databases, including debtor registries, to check if your main counterparties themselves have liquidity problems.
We often discover that the problem is not a lack of orders, but payment terms set too long for clients while having short terms for suppliers. Such a difference, even of 9 days, can take down a company with an annual turnover of 4.2 million PLN. In our report, we will indicate exactly how many days you must shift repayments by to regain financial breathing room without taking out more expensive loans from commercial banks.
During this phase, Marta Borkowska, our advisor with 8 years of experience, calls you for a 15-minute Q&A session. We don't waste time on office meetings. We ask about specific staff movements or planned investments that could affect the audit result. If you employ 43 people and work efficiency has dropped by 19% in the last quarter, we must know about it before preparing the final report.
Evening Legal and Operational Verification
From 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, our lawyer checks provisions in 6 key contracts that could generate a risk of contractual penalties or loan terminations. At Vistula Risk Solutions, we know that a small error in an addendum from July 2023 can cost a company 84,000 PLN in fines if restructuring is not reported on time. We don't write long essays — we point out risks that could realistically end up in court in the next 3 months.
Our method is based on eliminating wishful-thinking scenarios. If you claim a counterparty will pay 156,000 PLN next Tuesday, we check their payment history for the last 4 quarters. If they were an average of 14 days late, we assume in the audit that this money will arrive later. Such honesty allows avoiding panic when the account is empty in the middle of the month and salaries for 27 employees must be paid.
By the end of the working day, we have the skeleton of the report ready. It contains 3 threat levels: critical (requiring reaction in 48h), medium (to be settled in 14 days), and monitored. Each of these points is backed by a specific amount. For example: 'Failure to pay the lease installment by March 15 risks the seizure of 3 production machines'.
We save liquidity, not paper. The report must be an instruction manual for a crisis, not a shelf ornament.
What Will You Find in the 7-Page Final Report?
The next day at 8:30 AM, a PDF lands in your inbox. There is no fluff about the company's mission. You will find a table with 12 specific steps to be taken immediately. The first page is a summary of the cash status: how much you have, how much you must spend in 7 days, and what is missing. On the second page, we show 'emergency remedies' — for example, renegotiating 3 lease agreements, which in similar cases gave our clients savings of around 8,700 PLN monthly.
The rest is a scenario analysis. We show what will happen if you do nothing, and what if you implement our 4 key recommendations. In December 2024, we helped a construction company from Piaseczno that had 187 unpaid invoices from subcontractors. Thanks to the audit and quick reaction, within 24 hours we established payment priorities, which prevented a blockade of the construction site by 2 key teams.
The report concludes with a specific valuation of our further actions if you decide on full restructuring with Vistula Risk Solutions. There are no hidden costs. If the audit showed that your situation is stable (which happens in 23% of cases), we will write about it honestly. You pay for facts about your company that will allow you to sleep a few hours longer tonight.
