This global healthcare client was recently spun-off from its former parent company, which created a significant amount of organizational, technological, and procedural changes. As a result of the spin-off and the subsequent IPO, the company required an independent party to serve as their Internal Audit and SOX co-sourcing partner including IT SOX compliance. Specifically, the company needed a partner with the right expertise to validate the design and operating effectiveness of 300+ IT Controls and 100+ Business Process Controls, with the majority of controls having to comply with the SOX 404 standards for the first time.
As the Internal Audit SOX co-sourcing partner for the company, our team successfully completed all steps of the audit lifecycle. These responsibilities included performing audit planning exercises, leading walkthroughs of the in-scope controls, and performing testing procedures to validate the design and operating effectiveness of the controls. Our Principal and engagement lead interacted with the company’s external auditor as well as with senior leadership to ensure the ongoing commitment to its reporting timeline. Our team of internal controls experts also led the project management activities for the Internal Audit function, reporting status to the company’s leadership throughout the 10-month engagement.
Eliassen successfully deployed 20+ professionals throughout the audit year, who executed all audit tasks effectively and efficiently. Each of the client’s milestone dates were met ahead of schedule, with high-quality documentation submitted to and accepted by the client’s leadership. The performance of the Eliassen team during the first-year audit engagement has verbally secured an extension to continue serving as the company’s IA SOX co-sourcing partner into 2025 and beyond.