We are expecting approval of merger plans shortly, and if successful, we will be merging a smaller CU into our CU with an estimated legal day one of 1/1/25. We are planning for 6+ months to convert all systems, vendors, and processes and would like to be operating as one by mid-July.
My question is for those who’ve done this before. How did you adjust your audit plan to accommodate the merger activities? My thought was that we’d continue with quarterly reviews (new loan samples, insider accounts, FM, etc.) but not schedule any large audits for 1Q or 2Q to avoid adding to everyone else’s workload. Merger activities are going to be where the most risk lies, so that would free up our time to test system conversions and do more advisory type services related to the merger. I think we'd add the most value if we could be available for advisory-type services, putting out the inevitable fires that come with a merger.
I'd like to hear your thoughts or any other words of advice you have to share.
