April 2026 Newsletter: You survived audit season. Now what?

Add it to your spring cleaning list: Audit findings, ERP debt, Tariff fallout, and more

There's a version of spring cleaning that's just rearranging clutter. And there's a version that actually changes how you operate.

Audit season ends. The findings don't. Year-end is behind you, findings are in hand—now comes the harder work. Outdated controls, process gaps, technology debt: these don't fix themselves between fiscal years. This is the moment to tell the difference between what got patched and what actually got fixed.

April is when finance leaders who take the long view start acting on what they learned. What did the audit surface that's worth addressing? Is your ERP an engine or an anchor? Are the gaps investors would find already being closed—or quietly waiting

Spring cleaning isn't a metaphor here. It's a methodology.

This issue covers the frameworks, case studies, and honest questions worth asking before the back half of the year gets away from you.

Let's get to work.

Adam Olsen
National Head of Practices, Embark

FEATURED RESOURCE
Is your internal audit function actually working?

When organizations treat internal audit as a compliance obligation rather than a strategic tool, they get blindsided — by fraud, control failures, and operational breakdowns that a high-performing IA function would have caught months earlier. The question isn't whether to invest. It's whether your investment is built to deliver real returns.

CASE STUDY
Closing the Gaps Before Investors Found Them

Facing a major equity raise, this client recognized gaps in its accounting processes that could jeopardize investor due diligence. They brought in Embark to shore up audit readiness, stock compensation, and key finance and reporting functions ahead of the raise.

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MODERNIZATION GUIDE
The ERP Question Every CFO Should Be Asking

Many midstream oil & gas companies are still running on legacy ERP systems. The consequences are real:

• Manual processes and reporting delays that slow down decision-making

• Data silos that make consolidation and compliance harder than it needs to be

• Aging platforms that can't keep pace with growth or integrate with modern tools

This guide breaks down why ERP modernization is no longer optional, and how platforms like NetSuite are helping energy companies unify operations, strengthen compliance, and scale with confidence.

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INSIGHTS
The Tariff Ruling That Just Became Your Finance Team's Problem

The Supreme Court's IEEPA ruling isn't just a trade story. It's a financial reporting event.

Recognizing refund receivables, stress-testing covenants, and rebuilding FP&A models around tariffs as a permanent cost variable are just a few of the questions finance teams are now facing. We walk through all of it in our latest blog post.

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ON OUR RADAR
Deadlines, delays, and shifts in how companies report

1	California sets deadline for corporate climate disclosure rule	CARB has approved regulations implementing California's two climate disclosure laws: SB-253, requiring GHG emissions reporting for companies over $1 billion in revenue, and SB-261, requiring climate-related financial risk disclosure for companies over $500 million. First-year Scope 1 and 2 reporting is due August 2026, though SB-261 enforcement remains paused pending a Ninth Circuit injunction.
2	FASB hits pause on debt exchange proposal, takes aim at indexation complexity	At its March 18 meeting, FASB opted to hold its proposed ASU on debt exchanges pending a broader review of feedback on debt modifications and extinguishments. The Board also launched a new project to simplify the rules for determining when a financial instrument is considered indexed to a company's own stock, an area long criticized for inconsistent application. Both moves signal FASB's continued focus on reducing complexity in existing standards.
3	SEC eyes semi-annual reporting - Are investors ready?	The SEC has confirmed that formal rulemaking to shift periodic reporting from quarterly to semi-annual is actively being prioritized under Chairman Atkins, with a flexible, company-by-company approach likely. Finance leaders should watch this space closely as a move to semi-annual reporting could meaningfully change how investors and analysts, long conditioned to a quarterly cadence, consume and react to financial information.

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EMBARK'S ACCOUNTING MATTERS 
DISE podcast series

DISE: Beyond the Line Item
With hosts Adam Olsen & Nicole Harger

1. Why DISE Changes Everything
This episode breaks down ASU 2024-03, the Disaggregation of Income Statement Expenses (DISE) standard, and why companies need to start preparing now, even with a 2027 effective date on the horizon.

2. Inside the Natural Expense Categories of DISE
This episode gets into the technical details of all five required natural expense categories, working through the tricky classification questions companies are already bringing to their teams.

3. Building Your DISE Roadmap
In the final episode of the series, hosts Nicole Harger and Adam Olsen are joined by Managing Director David Bushby, who brings real-world perspective from working directly with public companies on DISE implementation.

ABOUT EMBARK
High-caliber consulting. High touch service.

Embark is a strategic finance and operations consulting firm built for companies navigating growth and complexity. We partner with organizations that need experienced operators to build scalable systems, strengthen controls, and solve the operational challenges that keep business leaders up at night.

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