Business process and IT audit outsource

Project overview and objectives

When we started working with this energy and industrial gas equipment manufacturer, it lacked an internal audit department to perform SOx business process and IT controls testing, conduct formalized fraud risk assessments, or support external audit. Other challenges included:

• Open internal audit director role, which left a gap in coordination between the audit committee and other stakeholders
• Unremediated significant deficiency and material weakness
• Little structure for integrating an international business (e.g., SOx and acquisition control readiness)

What we did

Clearsulting functioned as the internal audit department and worked with stakeholders to obtain documentation, investigate exceptions, and establish mitigation/remediation action plans for control deficiencies. Other ways we supported this organization were:

• Creating a fraud risk assessment template for documenting annual evaluation
• Guiding documentation and remediation of prior year significant deficiencies and material weakness
• Developing a comprehensive list of prioritized process improvement opportunities across the business
• Conducting business process, IT, and operational audits and presenting quarterly to the audit committee
• Managing internal audit budget
• Coordinating with international resources

Impact

We continue to work with this organization. Our collaboration has resulted in:

• Increased reliance on internal audit work, reducing the overall external audit cost
• Identifying process improvement opportunities to strengthen the control environment across the business
• Sustained relationships across internal business stakeholders, audit committee, and external auditors
• Streamlined testing approach and enhanced documentation quality