Systems and Process Assurance (SPA)

In today's business world, IT and financial reporting environments are becoming increasingly complex while even greater reliance is being placed on the information produced by these systems and processes. In addition, new regulations in many countries have put a greater emphasis on internal controls and often require independent assessments of the effectiveness of internal controls.

Attention to the design, documentation and operation of controls is critical to ensuring the accuracy, integrity and timeliness of information used for financial reporting and management decision-making. Our services enable organisations to gain assurance that their systems, processes and risk management procedures are operating effectively within a well-controlled environment.

If you:

• Are implementing – or have just implemented – a new system (e.g. SAP ERP system) and want to know whether the controls are adequate.
• Need confidence in the quality of the information coming out of your management information systems.
• Are planning system changes and wish to prevent a controls breakdown.
• Want to ensure that your risk management framework is effective.
• Need an independent assessment of your IT General Controls including identification of areas to improve.
• Are entering into a joint venture or other transaction and need due diligence on systems and IT General Controls.

Then PwC can help you

Our Systems and Process Assurance (SPA) practice provides assurance type of services in respect of controls around the financial reporting process, including financial business process and IT management controls. Serving both audit and non-audit clients, SPA provides:

• Assurance that adequate controls are in place to mitigate key risks facing the business.
• Comfort that key controls have been implemented prior to major systems going live.
• Assurance that key processes are providing reliable reports to enable management to make appropriate decisions.
• Assurance that there is a robust risk management framework to identify risk.

PwC’s Systems and Process Assurance (SPA) capabilities include:

• Assurance on financial and operation applications/business process controls and segregation of duties in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems (e.g. SAP, Navision, Oracle).
• Computer and database security controls assessments.
• IT General Controls (ITGCs) assessments.
• Infrastructure security assessments.
• Due diligence on systems and controls.
• Project Implementation Assurance (PIA) (pre-and-post implementation assessments).
• Data services (e.g. Computer-Assisted Audit Techniques (CAATs), data quality reviews).
• Spreadsheet Integrity Assessments.
• Information Technology Risk Diagnostic and Benchmarking.