What happens if I miss my audit window?

A Type 2 report covers a defined audit window, and buyers expect the next report to pick up roughly where the last one ended. Slip the window and a gap opens between periods — reports don’t formally expire, but procurement teams discount one whose period ended long ago, and plenty of contracts require a “current” report outright.

The usual patch, a bridge letter, has hard limits: it’s your management’s statement that controls haven’t materially changed, not an auditor’s work, and reviewers accept it for a short stretch — typically a quarter — before it starts reading as a substitute for the audit you didn’t run.

Rescheduling is the part teams underestimate. Audit firms book fieldwork out weeks to months, and a slipped engagement goes to the back of the queue, not the front. And if the window slipped because evidence wasn’t ready, the new date will slip for the same reason — catch up on evidence before you commit to it.

Call the auditor first; they would far rather move a window than qualify a report, and if your evidence is continuous they can often extend the period end instead of abandoning it. Pick a new end date with buffer you can actually hold, then send affected customers — anyone mid-diligence or contractually owed a report — the bridge letter and the new timeline together. A slipped audit disclosed with a date barely registers; the version buyers punish is the one they discover on their own.