Leading global multinational food company partners with Protiviti to set up the SOX center of excellence out of India

A leading global multinational food company headquartered in the US faced challenges in standardizing its Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) testing across its operations spread across 50 countries and multiple entities. This led to inefficiencies and increased compliance costs. To address these issues, the company engaged Protiviti to set up a SOX Center of Excellence (COE) based in India to centralize and standardize the SOX testing program.

Protiviti brought together a diverse team of experts, spanning process, IT, and SOX domains, to develop and execute the new operating model. Collaborating closely with the client, the team gained in-depth insights into their processes and controls, resulting in the formation of a robust centralized SOX team equipped with remote testing capabilities. Additionally, the team defined roles and responsibilities, implemented IT infrastructure to facilitate remote operations, and established protocols for information sharing and data security.

During the pilot phase, the team enhanced testing templates with standard attributes to align with external auditor requirements and built a scalable talent pool with the right mix of skills to support testing across multiple countries and languages. A steady governance rhythm was put in place to monitor progress and performance. As a result of the SOX COE's successful implementation, the client achieved significant cost savings and improved efficiency. The centralized model enabled consistent testing across entities, reducing non-uniform business practices and inconsistency in test results. The team's regular communication with process owners expedited query responses and ensured timely completion of testing.

Over the course of 4+ years, Protiviti continued to consolidate SOX control testing for over 950+ controls across 65 countries and 8 languages under the COE. They introduced tools and technology to further optimize and rationalize the SOX control framework, bringing in efficiencies in the testing process.

The client expressed confidence in Protiviti's technical capabilities and transformational approach, crediting them for successfully setting up the operating model. The COE's continuous value and engagement resulted in significant financial savings, reduced audit fatigue, and provided the right level of assurance to the company's leadership.

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