Will the Excel Spreadsheet Ever Die In The Audit World?

My thought or question can be a dragnet type of question, although I look at all the automated software that are out there and I wonder, will “spreads” stop being the bread that supplies the butter (software)?  When it comes down to it all, automated software still needs Bill Gates; or do they?  What it comes down to is that Excel keeps up with all the trends and never lets the Booming automation world get ahead of them, or should I say overshadow them?

All in all, this is great for each side of the “box”, meaning every company stays outside of the box, creating new technologies to make the box larger (inside box = Excel).   This trend has helped the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) world, the Compliance field in banks, as well as ORSA laws that have brought on all new ERM standards that are going to shake the insurance world like Dodd Frank did in the financial world.

Perhaps Excel is striving to make the box bigger so that software companies make it easier for companies to keep up with the ever-growing regulatory scrutiny. This, by large, makes the guy that stayed in the box still grow without the buzz word on the street.  I don’t know if I have answered my own question or opened Pandora’s Box, though I can tell you that the Auditors and Compliance officers need more than just “spreads”.

Using Spreads and sharing them through emails or shared servers can cause mistakes, just like playing the elementary school game “Telephone”.  Some Audit departments have woken from this game to jump on the cloud and are loving it, yet still have not washed their hands totally of “spreads”.

With regulatory compliance software, you can map all the regulations to your Audit Management Software and track all results related to regulations. You can share this data throughout your team to assist in the project management side of things. GRC tools like the ones for power and utilities help streamline and automate compliance woes in a more sophisticated manner.

So……..will “Spreads” ever die?

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How to Efficiently Manage Vendors?

Managing vendors is never easy. Expectations on both sides are almost always never the same, and over a period, the chasm is so wide and deep that it becomes difficult to move on. The changes in personnel and the regulatory changes have made it mandatory for every company to take an active interest in their vendors’ level of compliance with regulations and standards in their industry. Within the company, vendor management is a cost center and tracking compliance of the vendors adds another cost element to it. Here is a 4-step recipe to combat the cost, and increase productivity.

Step 1:

Classic Best Practices: Trim the number of vendors; set up a vendor rotation scheme (every 3 years or so), hire good negotiators, specify payment terms, do the 80/20 analysis of the goods and services obtained and so on.

Step 2:

Analyze the business processes for ensuring vendor compliance. Determine which of these can be automated.

Step 3:

Install Predict360 and configure it for Vendor Compliance management. Integrate with current Purchasing Department tools and any Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

Step 4:

Track vendor compliance from the Predict360 dashboard. Take action from the Predict360 application in terms of creating tasks, filing vendor compliance reports.

Predict360’s Vendor Management Software allows organizations to benefit with the services provided by third party vendors and contractors while managing the risks posed by these vendors efficiently and effectively. It also centralizes vendor management process and prevents it from oversight through a complete vendor management process.

About the company

360factors, Inc. (Austin, TX) helps companies improve business performance by reducing risk and ensuring compliance. Predict360, its flagship software product, vertically integrates regulations and requirements, policies and procedures management, risks and controls, audit management and inspections, and on-line training and qualifications, in a single cloud-based platform based on artificial intelligence.

360factors EHS Services offers environmental consulting services in the areas of air, water, and waste permitting and compliance, site investigation, and remediation, environmental and dredge material sampling and evaluation, engineering and geology, expert testimony, health and safety, and operational risk management. Its Managed Services incorporate outsourced risk and compliance services using Predict360.

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Competency and Compliance Learning Management System

I love this saying because it is relevant across an array of topics and is so simple in its meaning that it can be interpreted in many ways with a fairly general understanding for all: people are stupid.  No matter how you’ve come to terms with it we all have an understanding that nobody is perfect.

Effective Compliance Management Through Automation

Crying wolf or raising false alarms was the demise of the sheep herder in Aesop’s Fables. Over-reacting to every compliance issue turns people into the Wolf Crier.

An Alarmist is someone who is considered to be exaggerating a danger and causing needless worry or panic. When you aren’t grounded and are in “alarm” mode, you lose the ability to think outside the box, to be able to look at the bigger picture and to ask the right questions to determine the scope of the issue.

Calm in the Eye of the Storm. A fair number of the people have storms brewing, or they are already full blown. The challenge is to not let the external storm cause internal chaos that can blow your ability to stay rational, thoughtful, and most importantly, be the calm one who can step back to assess the complete problem, thus allowing you to get to the bottom of whatever is causing the storm. Do you fear a regulatory compliance storm brewing?

How can we help you improve your compliance management effectiveness and be that calm in the storm? 

360factors helps companies improve business performance by reducing risk and ensuring compliance. 360factors’ cloud-based Enterprise Risk and Compliance Management technology platform, Predict360, uses unique mapping and cognitive computing technologies to provide regulatory insight, predict risks and drive operational excellence.

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Traditional VS Breakthrough – Reduce Risk and Drive Operational Excellence

Running an organization based on quarterly goals and measuring quarterly performance have forced business leaders to scramble for short-term profit gains instead of having a long-term plan for performance and margins expansion.  Because of those short-term bets and quick pivots,

Five Steps for Successful Document Management

Documents carry critical information that helps run your business and serve your customers. Try applying the following five steps for successful document management at your organization:

Develop a Culture of Compliance and Risk Management

The risk is part of our daily life, not only in business or at work but also at home; in our personal life and even in our relationships. When we make decisions, not only the life-changing ones but also the mundane decisions that we make that make up our everyday life, certain risks are involved.

The food that we eat, the hours of sleep that we get, the activities that we do or the lack of it – they all constitute risks and they all have consequences based on the decisions that we make.

In the ecosystem of regulatory compliance where regulations change rapidly, how do we manage risks? The only answer that comes to mind is “automation through a regulatory compliance management software”.

Risk Management and compliance with regulations are not only the sole responsibility of top management. Everyone in the organization has a role to play. Everything starts with risk awareness. It’s the responsibility of having everyone in the organization acknowledge the existence of risks and the proactive execution of the process of mitigating or eliminating it.

The need to comply with the standards and regulations that apply to your industry is the only constant thing in the ever-changing space of GRC. If not done efficiently, compliance results can be very costly. Companies nowadays opt for a sophisticated and scalable way to manage the regulations that apply to their industry in order to manage risks and audit gaps as a result of regulatory changes management

 

Everyone in the organization has a responsibility to support the flow of information, knowledge, and communication pertaining to risks. One has to communicate to a supervisor or a manager in the event of problems in noncompliance and operations or in the event of dangerous situations – it must be reported. All employees are responsible for following all the applicable regulations and policies and procedures and developing a culture of a positive attitude on the implementation of compliance and risk management. And more importantly, to drive a culture of compliance and risk management, employees should understand the benefits of having such culture and why standards and regulations are put in place.

Plan and Prepare with Risk Management

Growing up in Maryland, during the long, summer nights, severe thunderstorms frequently rolled in and did some damage. During the short, cold winter nights, an array of snow and ice storms rolled in and did some damage. In stormy weather, there was always the strong possibility of power outages. To prepare for the repercussions of inclement weather, my family established a plan to kick start when a threat arose. We would make sure we filled up water buckets, gathered blankets, and stockpiled water bottle gathered

How to Stay Current with Regulatory Change

  

Working in a heavily regulated industry, only one thing remains constant – Change.   With the dawn of Dodd-Frank, regulatory reform has brought in a new wave of change in the financial industry.  Industry Regulations are the foundation of a financial entities compliance program, so if a regulation or requirement changes then the compliance program needs to change as well.  In turn, staying abreast of new or updated regulations is a key component of implementing a robust compliance program.