Once your clients are linked in a group structure, you can share workpapers from one audit file to other files within the group. Shared workpapers are synchronised – any changes made to the original will automatically reflect in all shared instances.

Accessing the Share Workpapers Screen

1. Open the file you want to share workpapers from and navigate to the Working Paper Index.
2. Click the dropdown menu at the top of the Working Paper Index.
   
3. Select Share Workpaper to Group.

Note: The Share Workpaper to Group option will only appear if the client is part of a group. If you do not see this option, check that the client has been linked to a group on the client page.

Selecting Workpapers and Target Files

The sharing screen is divided into two sections:

Left side – Workpapers: A list of all workpapers in the current file, displayed in the familiar folder and tickbox structure. Select the workpapers you want to share.

Right side – Group Files: The client hierarchy for the group, showing each client and their associated audit file. Use the tickboxes to select the files you want to share to. A Select All option is available at the top.

A message at the top of the page explains: “Share workpapers from this file to other files in the group. Selected workpapers will be mirrored (synchronised) across the selected group files. Any changes made to the original workpaper will automatically reflect in all shared instances.”

File Eligibility

Not all files in the group will be available for sharing:

• Only audit files are eligible. Year-end and other file types will not appear.
• The target file must have a year end within 3 months of the parent file’s year end. For example, if the parent year end is 31 December 2025, files with year ends from 30 September 2025 to 31 March 2026 will be eligible.
• If a client has no eligible file, they will appear greyed out with a “no file in period” message.
• You can only share to files lower in the group hierarchy. Sharing upwards is not permitted.
• The current file is marked with a “current” tag so you can see where it sits in the hierarchy.

Workpapers That Cannot Be Shared

Certain workpapers are excluded from sharing due to their nature as symlinks or file-specific documents. These will appear greyed out on the sharing screen with a hover message reading “This workpaper is unavailable for sharing”. The excluded workpapers are:

• Audit Plan
• Completion Report
• Materiality
• Review Points
• Journals
• Trial Balance

Completing the Share

1. Select the workpapers on the left and the target files on the right.
2. Click the Share button at the bottom of the page. The button will only activate once at least one workpaper and one file have been selected.
   
3. A progress indicator will display while the sharing is being processed.
   

Note: If a workpaper has already been shared to a particular file, it will not be duplicated. The existing shared copy will remain in place.

What Happens When You Share

When you share a workpaper, the following occurs:

• A linked copy of the workpaper is created in each selected target file. If the relevant folder does not exist in the target file, it will be created automatically.
• If a workpaper with the same reference already exists in the target file, the existing workpaper is moved to a backup folder and the shared copy takes its place. This ensures no work is lost.
• The original workpaper in the parent file receives a “Shared to group” label.
• The shared copy in the target file receives a “Shared from parent” label.

Related Articles

Setting Up a Group | Viewing Shared Workpapers | Unlinking a Shared Workpaper