Background: In order to manage its global import function consistently, and to manage the enterprise risk associated with Import activities, this CTS Impact client needed to establish formal standard policies and operating procedures.

CTS Impact Solution:

• Data-gathering
  • Coordinate business unit self-assessments
  • Serve as key liaison to plant management to obtain survey responses
• Data analysis
  • Prepare reports to track and monitor compliancy and audit readiness
  • Development of database tool to collect plant data
• Documentation of standard operating procedures
  • Develop procedures manual
  • Provide training
• Customs Audits
  • Provide first-level support for business units and plants
  • Interface with Legal department  for information requests related to Customs Audits
  • Design and execute pre-audit reviews to ensure compliance in future

Background: To leverage its massive purchasing power for the procurement of raw materials, this CTS Impact client needed to formalize its sourcing process for certain goods and services through a strategic sourcing program.

CTS Impact Solution:

• Analysis
  • Perform risk assessment
  • Define requirements & key metrics
  • Vendor analysis of commodity families
  • Vendor negotiation assistance
• Design and implement
  • Conduct pilot of selected providers
  • Select preferred providers
• Monitor compliance & performance
  • Develop Access database tracking tool to monitor vendor compliance and performance

With the rapid expansion of this investment management firm into new lines of business including investment banking and insurance, reporting requirements grew in both size and complexity.  To address its future reporting needs, the current financial system (Great Plains) needed to be replaced.

In addition, due to the complexity of its legal entity structure, including numerous joint ventures and minority-interest entities, along with foreign exchange transactions, an automated reporting tool was needed to consolidate financial results and report on them more efficiently.

As the Business Project Lead, CTS Impact provided a financial services industry-experienced Project Manager with significant capital markets background to assist with documentation of current processes in order to capture current state and to define future business requirements to support the software selection.

Once the new cloud-based software application was selected (Workday Financials and Workday HCM), CTS Impact supported the full life-cycle implementation of this tool, including re-design of the Chart of Accounts and other business processes, documentation of internal controls, user-acceptance (UAT) & systems testing, and end-user training, as well as post go-live support.

Concurrently, the CTS team assisted the management reporting team with its migration to Hyperion Financial Management (HFM) reporting tool and an Essbase business intelligence tool.  Significant data clean-up was performed to facilitate data conversion, along with documentation of standard operating procedures.  The financial system project design to go-live was completed ahead of schedule and under-budget due to the efficiency of experienced CTS Impact team, in collaboration with the internal staff.

In a parallel workstream, CTS Impact also provided hands-on report design expertise to automate short-term reporting processes until the new, long-term solutions were placed into production.

Other CTS Impact Services Provided:

• Asset Management – Investment Operations
  • Back-office optimization
  • Develop and document standard operating procedures
  • Interim staffing
• Internal Controls – Project management
  • SOC-1 readiness and reporting (and SAS 70 previously)
    • Perform risk assessment
    • Documentation of key controls
    • Perform testing
    • Liaison to external auditors

Background: In the aftermath of a material accounting fraud, this CTS Impact client was required to restate several years of financial data.  In conjunction with this effort, an extensive review of its internal controls was required, including remediation of material weaknesses in its controls over financial reporting at both the field operations and at the corporate level.

CTS Impact Solution:  

• Field testing coordination
  • Develop and manage a Field Testing Help Desk, along with related project management tools, to coordinate testing at over 100 facilities across the U.S.
  • Review test results submitted by field testing teams to identify controls gaps
  • Develop test plans and conduct testing at selected facilities
  • Liaison with external auditors and other third-party service providers
• Corporate testing
  • Document and test corporate-level controls including treasury, cash management and tax functions
  • Remediation planning to address material weaknesses

Background:  In order to manage a global Sarbanes-Oxley 404 corporate compliance program, business tools needed to be developed and maintained to analyze and track progress, manage resource utilization and control costs.  The diverse program encompassed a team of 30 professionals across numerous legal entities in over 50 countries.  Due to the varying levels of detail to meet the information requirements of the constituents (e.g. field operations, Steering Committee, Audit Committee), status reporting presented some unique challenges.

CTS Impact Solution: As the Global SOX Project Manager, CTS Impact supported the full life-cycle of this multi-year program:

• Project plan updates and status reporting
• Develop standard reporting tools to monitor and analyze progress on a global basis
• Functional design of project intranet site
• Coordination of  all compliance activities (financial operations and IT systems)
  • Documentation of key controls
  • Testing
  • Remediation oversight
• Foreign operations support – CTS Impact staff worked on-site across Europe and Latin America to provide hands-on assistance to the operating business units with all phases of this compliance program.

Background: In preparation for its SOC 1 review, this CTS Impact client needed to develop its approach and prepare for its subsequent review.

CTS Impact Solution: Led by a CTS Impact Project Manager with deep financial services experience, the following services were provided. As a result, this client received a clean Type 2 report.

• Perform risk assessment to identify key controls
• Documentation of key controls and underlying processes
• Pre-audit test plan development
• Perform testing to identify areas of exposure
• Remediation of control gaps
• Liaison to Big 4 external auditors

Background: With over 850 business units globally, this de-centralized IT function needed to establish formal IT governance standards and guidelines as part of its Enterprise Risk Management program.

CTS Impact Solution: Using the COBIT / ITGI standard framework as a best practice, CTS Impact performed the following:

• Conduct risk assessment
• Develop and document IT policies and guidelines
  • Disaster recovery and business continuity
  • Physical, environmental and system security
  • Access controls
  • IT operations
  • Change management – applications and technical infrastructure
  • Data management
  • SLA compliance
• Monitor and review compliance
  • Coordinate self-assessments on annual basis
  • Perform testing of high risk business units
  • SOC 1 review of significant third-party providers

Background: In a technology-centric operation, this CTS Impact client had identified significant internal control weaknesses which required disclosure in its annual report to the SEC.  Due to the dynamic nature of the client’s environment, numerous applications, hardware, networks and other technical infrastructure were in place due in part to informal IT governance.

CTS Impact Solution: In order to remediate the material controls weaknesses, the first step was to identify ALL systems in use, understanding their connectivity and interaction, and then to address the controls deficiencies. CTS Impact provided a Project Manager and staff to perform the following:

• System mapping
  • Identify critical systems (software, hardware, networks, interfaces)
  • Document comprehensive systems in use (over 100 identified)
  • Identify gaps and inefficiencies
• Analysis and Remediation
  • Perform risk assessment
  • Documentation of key controls
  • Perform IT compliance testing
  • Remediation planning and execution, including development of standard operating procedures

Given the depth of understanding of this client’s systems, business processes, culture and overall environment, CTS also assisted this client with the following other projects:

• IT project management
• Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security compliance
• Treasury workstation design, roll-out and user-training
• Interim Business Analyst — financial systems

Background: As part of its annual operational audits of this CTS Impact client’s 850 manufacturing facilities, field audits were performed globally on a rotational basis, driven by an annual risk assessment.
Due to resource-constraints, this client needed experienced auditors with manufacturing industry experience who could quickly ramp-up to execute audit plans related to operational efficiency, financial controls and IT systems controls.

CTS Impact Solution: With significant depth in large, complex manufacturing environments, CTS Impact deployed a team of experienced Internal Auditors to perform the following:

• Develop test plans based on internal control questionnaires (ICQ)
  • Operational
  • Financial
  • IT (using COBIT/ITGI framework)
• Perform testing and document audit findings
• Identify operational inefficiencies
• Conduct closing meetings with business units to communicate findings and recommendations
• Prepare audit reports

Background: As a result of a spin-off and subsequent IPO, this CTS client needed to demonstrate compliance with SOX 404 requirements. Previously, this company was an operating subsidiary of another larger firm, and did not have in-house expertise.   Moreover, little formal documentation existed to substantiate its internal controls in place.
During the review, some financial data was required to be restated due to a material accounting error.  Due to this added complexity, the level of scrutiny performed by the external auditors was extensive.

CTS Impact Solution: By leveraging the CTS SOX Toolkit, CTS managed the comprehensive SOX program and provided hands-on staff to perform all facets of the review including Financial, IT, and Entity-Level controls.

• Perform risk assessment based on COSO framework and AS 5
• Rationalize and document key controls, and underlying business processes
• Develop test plans and perform testing
• SAS 70 review of third-party service providers
• Analysis of deficiencies
• Remediation planning and oversight
• Anti-fraud controls review
• Liaison to Big 4 external auditors
• Audit Committee updates

Other Services:  Concurrently, this client required assistance with day-to-day accounting activities during peak periods including:

• SEC reporting
• Interim Accounting Manager to oversee transaction processing activities

Also, with its expansive network of telecommunications infrastructure, this client leased a high volume of real estate holdings nationwide. To automate the lease administration process, a new Lease Administration System was licensed. CTS Impact assisted with the data conversion and testing during the implementation of the new system.