4.1.3.3. Efficiency
To meet the reporting deadlines imposed by new legislation,
your organisation must operate at maximum efficiency. By removing the
complexity from your business applications you can confidently face new
governance demands. A truly efficient business system operates on a single data
model with data consolidated in one location. Integrated applications and
automated business flows quickly moves business data among global front and
back office operations. Data can be rolled up and reconciled accurately and
business processes run smoothly and quickly - %o
Eliminate bottlenecks and streamline the rollout of new internal
processes and procedures with self-service.
- Reduce the risk of malfeasance and accidental errors by
streamlining inter-user approvals and participation in review processes.
- Enable efficient execution of internal audits by providing
project team members complete visibility into audit data.
- Integrate enterprise data and business processes based on a
unified data
model to support global compliance.
4.1.4. Common mistakes 4.1.4.1. Poor planning
In many instances there is no concerted effort to ensure that
audit and review processes are embedded in the project life cycle. It is
essential during the initial planning of a project to ascertain who will be
performing audit and review activities as well as the duration and frequency of
such activities. At the outset of a project it is important that all parties
involved understand the scope of the activities to be performed.
4.1.4.2. Lack of focus
Even when audits and reviews are undertaken they often fail to
focus on the areas of an implementation that pose the greatest threat to
implementation success or organisational control. This to a large extent
relates to the previously mentioned point of planning. Implementation planners
should identify potential problem areas and
then determine how to adjust their audit and review approach to
deal with these concerns.
4.1.4.3. Competency of Auditors
In many instances the parties made responsible for audit and
review do not know the workings of ERP systems. They are often not aware of the
workings of the particular system they are auditing. In many instances the
financial auditors audit around the system using the «black box»
approach i.e. they rely on inputs and outputs and don't look at what happens in
between the ERP auditors must have at least a high level knowledge of how such
systems work and how the modules relate to each other. Certainly, they should
know the key features of the particular software they are working with and
ensure they ascertain whether the package has any problem areas. Being able to
query and pull out reports from the system is the ideal situation. This would
necessitate persons responsible for audit and review being included in
implementation activities such as training and testing.
4.1.4.4. Reliance on technology for the solution
All too often people have a tendency to believe that by
implementing a highly functional system, controls will automatically be taken
care of as there is a high degree of sophistication embedded in these systems.
However, this is not the case and care should be taken to ensure that all
business processes are carefully documented and users clearly understand what
components of a process require manual or human intervention.
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