Sarbanes-Oxley Audit Tracking and Reporting
Metaldyne, major Tier 1 automotive manufacturer engaged Advantage to bring its SOX
auditing into a central database outside of spreadsheets without losing the
ease of letting auditors capture their audit details in spreadsheets. Advantage accomplished
this with a combination of QuickBase as the central data repository and Advantage’s
Excel Smart Forms for optimal data capture at the source.
The Smart Forms (instead of QuickBase forms) were critical for optimal data capture,
providing:
- data feed to multiple records and tables simultaneously
- forms to audit many different controls in one place
- identical formatting as the original spreadsheets so there is no training
or change of process for the auditors
- ability to include completely detailed instructions and examples in the forms
- ability to capture and save a copy of audit data offline, for submission
later online
The highly customized reporting of control effectiveness and audit status across
many operating locations was accomplished with Advantage’s Dashboard reporting,
tied in real-time to QuickBase. This set of dashboards sits on executives desks and
provides on-demand reporting, always up to date with each field audit submission.
This successful combination of tools provides a new best practice and is broadly
applicable to larger companies across industries.