ERP Audit Consultant, Poland

An ERP review for Polish entities, not the statutory audit

Many companies in Poland already go through a statutory audit by a registered auditor, so it is worth being exact. This review treats the ERP as a tool the entity depends on every day. It asks whether the configuration matches how the entity operates, whether its controls stop the errors they are meant to stop, how data moves to KSeF, the tax authority, banks and the group, and whether reports can be relied on. It produces no audit opinion and no tax advice.

The request tends to come at familiar moments:

• A new finance director or group controller wants an independent view of what the Polish entity runs.
• Month-end in Poland keeps taking longer, and the reasons given are vague.
• The group plans to extend its template or move the entity onto a new platform and needs a baseline first.
• A shared service center is taking on more companies and wants to know whether its setup will scale.

I work from interviews with finance, purchasing, logistics and IT, screen-shared sessions where staff complete real tasks, and viewing rights to configuration and data. Where the group runs the system centrally, I agree access through the group IT team. Draft findings are discussed with the people concerned before they enter the report. The Polish layer described here builds on my standard ERP health check method.

Is KSeF being watched in both directions?

Poland has been moving business invoices onto the national e-invoicing platform, and the scope and timing have changed more than once, so what applies to your entity is for your tax advisor to confirm. Once a connection exists, though, the audit question is practical: does anyone act on what comes back, and is everything that arrives actually processed?

On the outgoing side I sample invoices across several weeks and check:

• that each one carries its KSeF identifier in the ERP;
• which submissions were refused, why, and how the corrected invoice was sent;
• whether correcting invoices link properly to the originals;
• what happened on days the connection was unavailable, and whether that procedure was agreed with your accountant.

On the incoming side I compare what suppliers have placed on the platform for your entity with what has been registered, matched and approved in the ERP. A gap here means costs and input VAT that are missing from the books, or suppliers paid from a PDF while the structured invoice waits unprocessed.

The audit also notes who monitors the connector, where errors are logged and whether alerts reach a person. Many KSeF problems are not configuration faults but ownership gaps. Points touching tax treatment become questions for your advisor; system causes go into the fix list. For how these flows should be designed in a new project, see my Polish implementation page.

JPK totals, VAT registers and the ledger

A JPK file that passes technical validation can still disagree with the ledger. When that happens, someone in the accounting team adjusts it by hand every period, which is both slow and risky. I take sample periods and compare three things: the JPK file as sent, the VAT registers in the ERP and the VAT accounts in the general ledger.

Differences are grouped by cause:

For each cause the report shows how often it occurs and where it should be fixed, ideally at entry, with mandatory fields or posting controls. Whether a given item belongs in a particular period or section is decided by your accountant or tax advisor, not by me.

This is often the most valuable section for the chief accountant, because it turns a recurring manual adjustment into a short list of system changes. Lighter follow-up belongs under ERP optimization.

Payment controls, account checks and exchange rates

Payments carry specific Polish controls that an ERP should support rather than leave to memory. I walk through a payment batch from proposal to release and check:

• whether supplier bank accounts are checked against the VAT payer register before payment, and how mismatches are handled;
• where the split payment flag is set on invoices and whether it flows into the bank file;
• who can create a supplier, change its bank account, approve invoices and release the batch, and whether a single employee holds every one of those steps;
• whether the bank portal's approval rules match those in the ERP, or whether one bypasses the other.

The rules on which invoices require these controls are for your tax advisor; the audit shows whether the system applies the rules they have set.

Exchange rates get a separate look. Polish books are kept in PLN, while many entities invoice or buy in euros. I check which rate source is configured, which date the system uses for each document type and how revaluation is run at period end, then compare it with what your accountant specifies. A generic rate setup inherited from a group template is a common source of small, recurring differences.

Where the fixes involve the bank interface or group systems, they connect to my ERP integration work.

Shared service access, group templates and the written findings

Shared service centers in Poland often run one ERP across many companies, with staff holding roles in several of them. Over time access spreads: a team lead covers for a colleague, a project account stays open, a consultant from the implementer keeps administrator rights. I export roles per company and test them against the duties your management wants separated, then list dormant and shared accounts. Access to salary data and other personal records is reviewed with GDPR in mind, leaving interpretation to your data protection officer.

Group templates get a fair assessment. I list the Polish needs the template covers, those handled by local extensions and those left to spreadsheets, so the group and local teams can discuss gaps on facts. The payroll journal from your payroll provider or accounting office is checked for mapping and reconciliation, and licenses are compared with real use.

The report brings it together: a summary for local and group management, findings ranked by business risk, a question list for your accountant and tax advisor, and a proposed sequence of fixes. I present it online during the Polish morning; meeting in person can be arranged. If the findings point to deeper trouble, my ERP rescue service in Poland follows on. The Poland hub and my Polish ERP consultant page cover my other services for Polish companies.