Whitley Penn is a full-service public accounting firm that delivers tax, audit, consulting, and CPA services across a myriad of industries.
Whitley Penn’s audit practice was facing growing pressure to improve efficiency and consistency across engagements in order to create capacity and elevate the client and team member experience. Manual tasks—such as vouching, recalculations, and documentation—were slowing down workpaper preparation and review. Staff frequently retyped data from supporting documents, a process that was both time-consuming and prone to errors, not to mention a low-value use of their time. Reviewers found it difficult to quickly assess the source of support, complicating coaching and issue resolution. As the firm expanded, onboarding new tools became increasingly complex, with inconsistent adoption across teams.
“DataSnipper has changed how our audit teams operate. It’s intuitive, efficient, and has meaningfully reduced the time spent on manual tasks—allowing us to focus more on higher-value areas.”
To address these challenges, Whitley Penn integrated DataSnipper throughout its audit workflow—from substantive testing and walkthroughs to new hire training. For example, when teaching cash auditing, staff are trained to use DataSnipper to snip support directly into workpapers. This functionality has helped accelerate preparation, reduce manual data entry, and create a more intuitive auditing experience.
DataSnipper has also improved workpaper review. Reviewers can quickly identify the support used, which helps streamline issue resolution and enhance review quality. In employee benefit plan audits, DataSnipper simplifies the validation of eligible compensation data and enables timely edits. It also serves as a useful client-facing tool—teams can visually demonstrate the source of support, contributing to transparency and trust.
Document matching templates have supported faster testing for unrecorded liabilities and revenue, while form extraction templates have helped reduce time spent on specialized consulting engagements from 4–6 hours per week to approximately one hour. These efficiencies have allowed teams to allocate more time to analysis, coaching, and client service.
Features Used: All Snip Tools
Impact: Integrated into onboarding; new hires are introduced to DataSnipper early, supporting consistency and confidence.
Features Used: Snip Tools, Audit Trail
Impact: Reduced manual entry; reviewers can more easily assess support used, aiding review quality and issue resolution.
Features Used: Document Matching Templates (developed internally)
Impact: Helped standardize procedures and reduce testing time; improved accuracy in identifying exceptions.
Features Used: Form Extraction Templates
Impact: Weekly work reduced from 4–6 hours to ~1 hour, enabling consultants to focus more on insights.
Specialized consulting work reduced from 4–6 hours to ~1 hour, freeing capacity for higher-value work.
New hires get up to speed quickly and confidently with DataSnipper training.
Document matching and form extraction reduce manual work, boosting both speed and accuracy.
