Canadian telecoms firm automates internal controls testing with ACL Services solution
Vancouver June 7, 2005 Canadian telecoms firm TELUS Communications is using a solution from ACL Services Ltd. to automate internal controls testing, enhance corporate oversight and support regulatory compliance for Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404, according to the solution provider.
Based in Edmonton, TELUS is the second largest telecommunications company in Canada, with $7.8 billion in annual revenues and 28,500 employees.
The company's accounts payable division has been working to promote high standards of accountability and fiscal transparency throughout the organization, and TELUS is now using ACL's Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) technology within two critical business processes its overall purchase-to-payment cycle and its purchasing card program to automate internal controls testing, enhance corporate oversight and support regulatory compliance for Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404.
ACL, a provider of business assurance analytics technology for financial management, compliance professionals and auditors, said that its solutions allow TELUS to efficiently monitor a range of transactions daily, detect errors, exceptions and control weaknesses quickly, as well as resolve potential problems before they escalate.
The CCM solutions are designed according to the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) framework, which is recognized as the internal controls standard for supporting Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance. Embedding analytics into TELUS' day-to-day operations, the ACL CCM Purchase-to-Payment and Purchasing Card modules allow the organization to access, compare and analyze data from multiple systems across the enterprise, and then independently validate transactions for compliance with TELUS' corporate controls and business rules.
"Continuous monitoring significantly enhances our overall level of business assurance," said Gary Silsbe, director of operational excellence for TELUS. "By reviewing our transactions on a regular basis, we know that every payment is legitimate and represents a valid business purpose."
Silsbe said that, with the success in recovery of duplicate payments since the implementation, TELUS is on track to pay for its investment in ACL technology within six months.
"Continuous monitoring is gaining widespread acceptance as an effective way to leverage technology for more sustainable compliance," said Harald Will, ACL president and CEO. "It enables organizations to automate the labor-intensive testing of internal controls, while highlighting areas where you can gain further operational efficiencies and generate significant ROI by containing costs and minimizing revenue leakage."
Additional Articles of Interest
For more information on Sarbanes-Oxley, read Parts 1 and 2 of the recent SDCExec.com series on Contract Management: Five Myths of Contract Management, and Contract Management: Improving Corporate Governance.
Other recent SDCExec.com articles on Sarbanes-Oxley:
Vancouver June 7, 2005 Canadian telecoms firm TELUS Communications is using a solution from ACL Services Ltd. to automate internal controls testing, enhance corporate oversight and support regulatory compliance for Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404, according to the solution provider.
Based in Edmonton, TELUS is the second largest telecommunications company in Canada, with $7.8 billion in annual revenues and 28,500 employees.
The company's accounts payable division has been working to promote high standards of accountability and fiscal transparency throughout the organization, and TELUS is now using ACL's Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) technology within two critical business processes its overall purchase-to-payment cycle and its purchasing card program to automate internal controls testing, enhance corporate oversight and support regulatory compliance for Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404.
ACL, a provider of business assurance analytics technology for financial management, compliance professionals and auditors, said that its solutions allow TELUS to efficiently monitor a range of transactions daily, detect errors, exceptions and control weaknesses quickly, as well as resolve potential problems before they escalate.
The CCM solutions are designed according to the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) framework, which is recognized as the internal controls standard for supporting Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 compliance. Embedding analytics into TELUS' day-to-day operations, the ACL CCM Purchase-to-Payment and Purchasing Card modules allow the organization to access, compare and analyze data from multiple systems across the enterprise, and then independently validate transactions for compliance with TELUS' corporate controls and business rules.
"Continuous monitoring significantly enhances our overall level of business assurance," said Gary Silsbe, director of operational excellence for TELUS. "By reviewing our transactions on a regular basis, we know that every payment is legitimate and represents a valid business purpose."
Silsbe said that, with the success in recovery of duplicate payments since the implementation, TELUS is on track to pay for its investment in ACL technology within six months.
"Continuous monitoring is gaining widespread acceptance as an effective way to leverage technology for more sustainable compliance," said Harald Will, ACL president and CEO. "It enables organizations to automate the labor-intensive testing of internal controls, while highlighting areas where you can gain further operational efficiencies and generate significant ROI by containing costs and minimizing revenue leakage."
Additional Articles of Interest
For more information on Sarbanes-Oxley, read Parts 1 and 2 of the recent SDCExec.com series on Contract Management: Five Myths of Contract Management, and Contract Management: Improving Corporate Governance.
Other recent SDCExec.com articles on Sarbanes-Oxley:
- Synchronize to Survive
- Sarbanes-Oxley: The Next Y2K?
- Survey Reveals New Findings on Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
- Most Companies Working on Sarbanes-Oxley
- Survey: Most Companies Have Not Budgeted for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
- More articles about Sarbanes-Oxley.
