CASE STUDY
SARA
LEE
INTERNATIONAL
ACL TECHNOLOGY AND REPEATABLE ANALYTICS PROVIDES
SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS TO SARA LEE INTERNAL AUDIT
CHALLENGES
Central data storage with
decentralized process ownership
Numerous geographic locations
and limited staff resources
Time-consuming manual
sampling procedures
Low controls assurance to
IA costs ratio
SOLUTION
Sara Lee International runs its business processes on a central SAP ERP environment, but
management and business process owners are decentralized. That means the 40-member internal
audit team can physically visit only a portion of the 151 business entities in 25 countries—creating
a low audit cost to assurance ratio. To overcome this challenge, the team created a comprehensive
pilot project that automates multiple audit functions with repeatable analytics. The project has
already provided significant savings in the first year and considerably increased assurance over the
control environment. The ACL analytics cover full data populations and test SAP configurations,
master data and transactional data. The team has cut travel expenses, saved hours of manual effort,
and provides management with valuable reports that support stronger business and financial
processes across the organization.
Company Profile
Sara Lee is a global manufacturer of brand name products for consumers worldwide. In 2009, the
company ranked 199 on the Fortune 500 with brands including Sara Lee, Ambi Pur, Ball Park, Douwe
Egberts, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Kiwi, Sanex, and Senseo. Sara Lee products are used in more than
190 countries, with production and sales operating units on all continents. The company has 41,000
employees and annual revenues of US $12.9 billion.
Data Analysis
INDUSTRY
Manufacturing
REGION
EMEA
KEY BENEFITS
Achieved significant cost savings
Improved controls assurance with
full data coverage
Gained better business processes
and accounting functions
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Challenges
Sara Lee International runs its business processes on a central SAP ERP environment, which includes 151
companies in 25 countries. All operational, financial and transactional data is centrally stored, but
management and business process owners are spread around the globe. In order to follow standard
audit procedures, the Internal Audit (IA) team must travel to each local entity to ensure the control
environment is effective and efficient.
Given the large number of international business entities, only a portion of the companies can be
included in the annual audit plan. Some entities are visited only every 3-5 years based on a
comprehensive quantitative risk model. Traditionally, controls testing has included time consuming
manual sampling with limited analytical procedures.
CASE STUDY
Solution
Results
Sara Lee first implemented ACL technology several
years ago and recently completed a 12-month pilot
project called “Take the shortCAAT.” The project was
intended to:
The Sara Lee IA pilot project applied defined metrics
to quantify the test results. The team measured the
benefits of using ACL analytics instead of standard
manual audit procedures, according to the audit
time reduction (manual vs. automated audit tests),
work program enhancement, test usage times
(forecasted vs. actual), and number and relevance of
issues found using the analytics.
■■
■■
"ACL TECHNOLOGY HAS ENABLED US TO
REDUCE OUR INTERNAL AUDIT COSTS
AND SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE
LEVEL OF ASSURANCE WE’RE PROVIDING
THROUGHOUT THE ORGANIZATION."
-TOBIAS THIBAUT, AUDIT MANAGER
& DAVIDE GAVA, AUDIT LEAD SENIOR,
BARCELONA, SPAIN
■■
Identify areas where ACL analytics can be used, .
then design, develop and apply the audit tests.
Create independent training guides for each test
that can be used by the entire audit group.
Develop a road map to expand ACL use in
select areas.
Each ACL test was planned in the roadmap and tracked
through a customized user interface, then linked to a
risk control framework that oversees the organization’s
main business processes and audit risks. In order to
prioritize the development process, the ACL tests were
also classified by automatization, significance / added
value, complexity, and extendibility, and were assigned
a place in the roadmap. Development times varied from
16 to 80 hours per test, with a faster pace as the team
became more familiar with the SAP system, underlying
data structures and the modular approach of
predefined scripts.
The tests are now available to all IA team members
and can be performed without any prior ACL
knowledge. The tests can also be run remotely on a
shared drive or on an individual auditor’s PC, which is
often the only feasible solution in countries with
limited connectivity.
The ACL applications quickly reduced IA costs and
increased the level of assurance over the control
environment. Using ACL to test the SAP
configuration settings, master data, transactional
data and the SAP security environment also saves
time, money, and provides assurance from full data
populations, instead of samples from one or several
entities. The team has cut travel expenses and the
ACL tests can be run for all SAP entities at one time.
The tests are applied on a monthly basis and have
led local and corporate management to request
reports on an ongoing basis—improving business
processes and accounting functions. The results have
also created effective discussions among entities
beyond the scope of these tests. Overall, the project
has led to SAP configuration enhancements and
significant cost savings.
Learn more about what
your organization can
accomplish with ACL
Call 1-888-669-4225
or email info@acl.com
acl.com | references@acl.com
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© 2014 ACL Services Ltd.
ACL and the ACL logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ACL Services Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Originally published, 2011