Companies keep equity records compliant by maintaining audit-ready reporting, current 409A valuations, and ASC 718 expense tracking. Board approvals for grants and other equity events also need to be documented and easily retrievable. On Cake, this compliance foundation, audit-ready reporting, 409A, ASC 718, and board approvals, is built into the platform. Companies should still confirm audit-specific requirements with their own advisor.
Audit readiness becomes a real question the first time a company faces outside scrutiny, whether that's a fundraise, a 409A review, or year-end financial reporting. Waiting until that moment to organize equity records usually means reconstructing history from scattered files.
Compliant equity records generally mean four things staying current and retrievable: audit-ready reporting, valid 409A valuations, ASC 718 expense tracking, and documented board approvals for every grant. Each one needs to be traceable back to when it happened, not just accurate as of today.
The difference between a company that's audit-ready and one that isn't usually comes down to whether that documentation was kept as it happened, not assembled afterward.
How Cake keeps equity records audit-ready as you go
Cake's compliance foundation, audit-ready reporting, 409A, ASC 718, and board approvals, is built into the platform rather than bolted on before an audit. Every equity event gets recorded and timestamped as it happens, so a company doesn't need to reconstruct its history under time pressure. That same foundation is what attorneys and investors are checking for when they ask if a cap table can be trusted.
This article is designed and intended to provide general information in summary form on general topics. The material may not apply to all jurisdictions. The contents do not constitute legal, financial or tax advice. The contents is not intended to be a substitute for such advice and should not be relied upon as such. If you would like to chat with a lawyer, please get in touch and we can introduce you to one of our very friendly legal partners.
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