BDO increase efficiencies with "Three Lines of Defence" and "Golden Thread"
'Has Ideagen delivered everything we hope? Absolutely. It is an excellent product for us and has really helped us ensure that we can maintain high and consistent quality standards in all the work that we do.'
BDO is a global top-five accounting firm providing independent assurance, tax, financial advisory and consulting services to a wide range of publicly traded & privately held companies.
Prior to implementing Ideagen Internal Audit, one major headache the firm experienced was that the audit function was not equipped to facilitate the Three Lines of Defence model.
Risk and Control environments were not interconnected, leading to an inconsistent approach to risk management.
With Internal Audit, BDO found that not only can Risk Management, Compliance and Internal Audit work together effectively to produce a strong Three Lines of Defence Model, but the software also delivered key efficiencies in every facet of auditing.
It very quickly became a vital tool that BDO rely on daily, as evidenced by Nigel Burbidge, Partner and Global Head of BDO’s Risk Advisory Services:
“Audit is obviously critical to our business in our risk advisory services team and internal audit is about 80 to 90% of our fees.
So, the way we carry out audits, the quality of our audits and the outputs from those audits are vitally important to us.
”Nigel’s expectations for the product were high.
BDO were looking for a product that could deliver excellent control of all audit files and documentation in a single dynamic environment, as well as help define and develop their risk methodology without impacting some of their established processes in planning and reviewing for quality assurance.
After years of use, BDO have found that Pentana has not only delivered on these criteria, but it has created a much more proactive attitude towards risk within the business.
“Our control has improved immeasurably.
Because the Ideagen Internal Audit is risk driven, it forces you to think about the risks at the outset of carrying out a review, it forces you to think about the risk mitigation strategies, the controls that are in place, it drives you down a road which actually enables you to get to the right result at the end of the day.
“Has Ideagen delivered everything we hope? Absolutely. It is an excellent product for us and has really helped us ensure that we can maintain high and consistent quality standards in all the work that we do.
”Cristina summarizes her views on the relationship with Ideagen and the experience of using Internal Audit. She said: “I would definitely recommend Ideagen Internal Audit to my peers due to their commitment, their solution and their professionalism.”
Benefits
Implements a consistent methodology compliant with risk and auditing standards
Simplifies global deployment with online installation and automatic updates
Optimizes performance with offline working to provide a true global working environment
All Lines of Defence using the same tool
Promotes risk awareness and good communication with powerful reports