# Auditboard Financial Model

Cloud-based integrated risk management platform connecting audit, risk, compliance, and ESG teams across the enterprise.

- Canonical: https://finamodel.com/startups/auditboard
- Excel download: https://finamodel.com/startup-models/auditboard.xlsx
- Category: Enterprise/Security
- Model type: SaaS ARR / Valuation
- Funding round: Acquisition
- Funding: $3B+
- Founded: 2024
- Geography: US-headquartered, with international expansion as a stated growth lever. Customers include global enterprises.
- Customer: B2B

## About the company

AuditBoard provides a cloud platform for connected risk management, bringing internal audit, risk, compliance, and ESG teams onto a shared workflow. Its modules replace fragmented processes with a more consistent view of controls, issues, and enterprise risk.

The company sells into large organisations with an initial department or module and expands across the GRC suite. Its materials emphasise strong gross retention above 95% and a land-and-expand model in which cross-sell is as important as winning new enterprise accounts.

The model builds ARR by customer cohort and module, separating new-logo bookings from adoption of additional products. Gross retention, net expansion, ACV, sales capacity, implementation costs, and SaaS gross margin flow through to the operating forecast and cash needs.

## What's included

- 5-year monthly revenue build with stage-appropriate growth assumptions
- Full P&L, headcount plan, and operating-expense schedule
- Cash-flow statement, runway, and burn-rate tracking
- Valuation via exit multiple with a DCF cross-check
- Returns analysis with MOIC and IRR
- Unit economics including CAC, LTV, payback, and cohort retention

## Product & value proposition

AuditBoard is a "Modern Connected Risk Platform" that unifies five historically siloed functions - Audit, Risk Management, IT Risk & Compliance, Finance (SOX), and Sustainability/ESG - onto a single cloud-native platform with a shared data core (Risks, Controls, Issues, Policies, Frameworks).

Key product modules:
- Audit: Audit Program Management, Financial Controls Management (SOX)
- Risk Management: Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Operational Risk Management
- IT Risk & Compliance: IT Risk Management, IT Framework Management, Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM)
- ESG: ESG Program Management, ESG Controls Management

Shared platform capabilities: AI/ML, analytics, workflow automation, dashboards & reporting, enterprise integrations/APIs.

Differentiation vs. legacy GRC / homegrown tools:
- Purpose-built for cloud; unified data core vs. product point solutions
- Practitioner-centric UX (50% of customer-facing employees are former practitioners)
- GenAI features: issue/control drafting, intelligent framework recommendations

## Market

- Global TAM: $20 Billion - AuditBoard's own 2023 estimate
- Est. current annual spend (SAM proxy): $7–13 Billion - based on 2022 Gartner IRM Global Spending Forecast and 2021 IDC estimates
- Growth drivers cited: accelerating risk context (AI, ESG, inflation, geopolitical, supply chain, cyber), increasing regulatory/compliance demands, expanding financial impact of noncompliance

## Revenue model

- Model: B2B SaaS subscription (ARR basis implied by all ARR references and retention metrics)
- Pricing structure: Not detailed in deck. "Higher tiers" referenced as an upsell lever, implying tiered/modular pricing by product or seat/usage.
- Sales channels: Direct enterprise sales (inferred from Fortune 500 customer profile); GTM partners and alliances cited as future growth lever
- Units: Customers (count not given); revenue unit = ARR per customer
- Cross-sell / upsell mechanics: Cross-sell additional modules (e.g., ERM → TPRM → ESG) to existing customers
- No pricing page data, ACV ranges, or contract lengths disclosed

## Traction & metrics

All figures from slide 2 (at-a-glance) confirmed in image:

| Metric | Value | Source |
| -- | -- | -- |
| Ending ARR | $200MM+ | - |
| YoY ARR Growth | 40% | - |
| Gross Revenue Retention | 95%+ | - |
| FCF | Positive (FCF+) | - |
| Fortune 500 penetration | ~50% | - |
| Fortune 10 penetration | 6 of 10 | - |
| Target ARR (long-term) | $1B ARR (aspirational path) | - |

## Unit economics

- FCF margin: Positive but no % given
- Only input available: Gross retention 95%+ - implies very low gross churn (~5% or less annually)

## Competition / moat

Competitive landscape:
- Homegrown solutions & productivity tools (spreadsheets - "50% manage controls on spreadsheets")
- Legacy GRC / point solutions (e.g., RSA Archer, ServiceNow GRC, IBM OpenPages implied by G2 grid positioning)

Moat factors cited:
- #1 rated vendor on G2 in ERM (formerly GRC) and Audit Management, Winter 2024
- G2 Top 100 All B2B Software Products 2024
- ~50% Fortune 500 penetration creates reference-selling and switching-cost advantages
- Network effect within customer orgs: once multiple risk teams are on platform, displacing it requires replacing audit + risk + IT + ESG simultaneously
- 50% of customer-facing employees are former practitioners - domain depth as hiring moat

## Team & funding ask / use of funds

Team:
- Scott Arnold - President & CEO (ex-McKinsey, MarketTools, Shutterfly, Borland)
- Josh Harding - CFO (ex-SailPoint, Austin Ventures, Citi)
- Tom Schmit - CRO (ex-Cisco, AppDynamics, BMC)
- Haibei Wang - CDO (ex-Everbridge, PayPal, ServiceNow)
- Evan Fitzpatrick - CPO (ex-Bain Capital, BCG)
- Kevin Jhangiani - CTO (ex-CommercePack)
- John Reese - CMO (ex-Mavenlink, HireRight, Velocify)
- Chris Doell - CCO (ex-Cisco, OpenDNS, Zenprise)

Investors: Battery, Dragoneer Investment Group, Tiger Global

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## Recommended financial model

- **Archetype + why:** SaaS ARR model with module-level revenue build. AuditBoard is a classic land-and-expand enterprise SaaS company: ARR is the primary value metric, gross retention is high (95%+), and growth comes from both new logos and cross-sell of additional modules. The model should be built bottom-up on ARR cohorts with NRR expansion layered in.

- **Forecast horizon & granularity:** 5-year annual (Year 1–5), with Year 1 split monthly for cash flow visibility. Base year anchored at $200MM+ ARR growing at 40% YoY.

- **Key drivers & assumptions:**

| Driver | Value / Assumption |
| -- | -- |
| Starting ARR | $200MM |
| YoY ARR growth - near-term | 40% |
| YoY ARR growth - medium-term (Y3–Y5) | 25–30% decay as base grows |
| Gross revenue retention | 95% |
| Net revenue retention (NRR) | 110–120% |
| New logo growth rate | back-solve from ARR growth minus expansion |
| Average ACV | enterprise GRC: ~$150–250K; mid-market: ~$50–100K; blend TBD |
| Gross margin | 70–75% |
| S&M as % of revenue | 35–45% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 15–20% |
| G&A as % of revenue | 8–12% |
| FCF margin | Low-positive (FCF+ stated) |
| TAM penetration ceiling | $20B TAM; $1B ARR target = 5% TAM share |
| International revenue mix | Currently small; expansion is a stated future lever |

- **Scenarios (Base / Bull / Bear - which variables flex):**
  - Base: 40% → 30% → 25% ARR CAGR; NRR 115%; gross retention 95%
  - Bull: ARR growth sustains 35–40% into Y3 via international + new product velocity; NRR 120%
  - Bear: Growth decelerates to 20–25% by Y3 (macro headwinds, competitive pressure from ServiceNow/Workiva); NRR drops to 108%; gross retention 93%

- **Required sheets / outputs:**
  1. Assumptions - all drivers with / tags
  2. ARR Bridge - new ARR, expansion ARR, churn, ending ARR by year
  3. Income Statement - revenue, gross profit, OpEx (S&M, R&D, G&A), EBIT, EBITDA
  4. Cash Flow - operating CF, capex, FCF; FCF margin trend
  5. KPI Dashboard - ARR, growth rate, GRR, NRR, FCF margin, Rule of 40
  6. Scenario toggle - Base / Bull / Bear

## Frequently asked questions

### Is the Auditboard financial model free?

Yes. The Auditboard model is a free Excel download with live formulas.

### Can I change the assumptions?

Yes. The workbook is editable and its live formulas recalculate when assumptions change.