News
Prodiance & Jefferson Wells Automate the Spreadsheet Compliance Lifecycle
Strategic Partnership Delivers End-to-end Compliance Solution
for SOX 404 Mandates
San Ramon , CA and Milwaukee, WI – August 21, 2006 – Prodiance Corporation, a world leader in delivering comprehensive business solutions for improving compliance with today’s corporate, regulatory and legal mandates, and Jefferson Wells, a global provider of professional services in the areas of internal audit, technology risk management, tax and finance and accounting, today announced a formal partnership and comprehensive solution for Spreadsheet Remediation and Control. The joint solution will help organizations improve SOX 404 compliance and automate controls over critical spreadsheets used in the financial reporting process.
Spreadsheet Risks and SOX 404
Leading tax and audit firms have been highlighting the business risks of using uncontrolled spreadsheets associated with regulatory reporting, general ledger entries and financial reports. Recent studies have shown that over 95 percent of today’s organizations continue to use spreadsheets to support their financial reporting process, and that 94 percent of all spreadsheets audited contain errors. Such errors can lead to inaccuracy of account balances, unreliable sub-system controls, lost earnings, poor company reputation and image or even undetected fraud. Although spreadsheets are flexible and powerful tools for financial modeling, budgeting and forecasting, they often contain complex formulas, custom macros and links to databases and spreadsheets. Furthermore, finance and accounting end-users often email spreadsheets for review and approval, save them to local hard drives and corporate shared drives. With such portability, ensuring compliance while tracking, approving, reviewing, reconciling and reporting on changes has been a significant challenge for many organizations.
Spreadsheet Remediation & Control
“Uncontrolled financial spreadsheets pose an unacceptable business risk for organizations today,” said Rebecca Kitchens, finance operations solutions director at Jefferson Wells. “A proactive approach to spreadsheet compliance requires the combination of domain expertise, best practices and value-added services, combined with a technology solution that stands up to auditor scrutiny. Prodiance and Jefferson Wells are taking a leadership role in providing a solution to address these crucial needs.”
“By combining industry-leading domain expertise and services from Jefferson Wells with best-of-breed technology from Prodiance, organizations can address the entire spreadsheet compliance lifecycle, from inventory of the critical spreadsheet population, analysis and risk assessment, remediation, management and control, to process automation and monitoring,” said Eric Perry, vice president of marketing at Prodiance Corporation.
Key features and benefits of the joint solution include:
- Initial assessment of critical spreadsheet population, including risk profile and development of new controls
- Spreadsheet analysis, auditing, testing, documentation and remediation
- End-user training on spreadsheet development best practices
- Management of the critical spreadsheet population in a secure web based environment along with all associated electronic evidence
- Key spreadsheet controls including: change control, version control, access control, input control, security and integrity of data, documentation, development lifecycle, backup and archival, segregation of duties/roles and procedures, logic inspection, and overall analytics
- Automation of key spreadsheet workflows, including testing, change requests, review and approval cycles, control attestation, etc.
- Visibility via robust audit trails and advanced spreadsheet analytics
Through joint marketing efforts, Prodiance and Jefferson Wells will continue to bring attention to this area and demonstrate how their respective offerings can assist organizations seeking to automate controls over critical spreadsheets, while taking a proactive approach to compliance and sound corporate governance.
Availability and Resources
The joint Prodiance-Jefferson Wells Spreadsheet Remediation and Control solution is shipping and available immediately. For more information on the joint solution, or to sign up for a free online seminar, visit www.prodiance.com/news/index.asp, contact Prodiance at +1 866-569-5678, or Jefferson Wells at www.jeffersonwells.com.
About Prodiance
Prodiance Corporation is a world leader in delivering comprehensive business solutions and best practices for improving compliance with today’s corporate, regulatory and legal mandates, and boosting productivity for knowledge workers. With proven technologies and solutions for financial spreadsheet control and remediation, management of electronic evidence, automation of key business processes, and federated search for eDiscovery, Prodiance leverages a 15-year history in delivering solutions for highly-regulated markets. Organizations across the financial, legal, real estate, telecommunications, entertainment, aerospace and defense, health care, educational, manufacturing, and engineering & construction markets have trusted Prodiance as a strategic partner to achieve their goals – driving down the cost of compliance, automating key business processes, and better leveraging corporate knowledge assets. Prodiance Corporation is an independent, privately held corporation based in San Ramon, California. Additional news and information about Prodiance solutions, products and services is available at www.prodiance.com or by calling 1-866-569-5678.
About Jefferson Wells
Jefferson Wells is a global provider of professional services in the areas of risk, controls, compliance and financial process improvement. The firm specializes in internal audit, technology risk management, tax, and accounting and finance. From its 45 offices, it serves clients including Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, through highly experienced, salaried professionals working from offices across North America and Europe.
Jefferson Wells is an independently operating, wholly owned subsidiary of Manpower, Inc. (NYSE: MAN).
www.jeffersonwells.com.
Prodiance PR Contact:
Eric
Perry
(866) 569.5678
###