There are two things that enterprise leaders can be certain of today: taxes and an unwanted software audit in the near future. Unwanted, of course, but a software audit should no longer be unexpected. The number of software vendor audits has been increasing in the last 10 years now as a means of ensuring full compliance with licensing terms, and , of course, full payment for current software usage. Software is revenue-generating activity for many (though not all) software companies, and routine, periodic audits are the only way for them to ensure full payment for their intellectual property. At the moment, far too many enterprises are unaware of the deep impact a software audit can have – financially, time consumed, and productivity lost.