Heineken implements scalable tool to facilitate auditing standardization
Heineken is a proud independent global brewer. The brand that bares the family name Heineken is available in almost every country on the globe and is the world’s most valuable international beer brand
Heineken are Europe’s largest brewer and the third largest by volume, the company is present in 70 countries and operates more than 165 breweries.
Heineken's Global Audit division is seen as the organisation’s third line of defence, which reports directly into the CEO and the Audit Committee.
By doing so, Global Audit are positioned to provide objective and independent assurance to improve the operations of Heineken around the globe.
Due to dramatic growth of Heineken as a whole, which saw the company more than double in size in the last six years, the audit function had to grow accordingly to reflect this.
It became apparent to the Group Audit division that, inevitably, the function of audit had to be closer to their operating companies.
Internal Audit was the chosen product due to the flexibility it offered us to have our process in the process of the audit management system.
Caroline Griffiths, Senior Manager at Global Audit Corporate & Professional Practice at Heineken, explained: “There became an increased need to ensure we had one common way of working, standardized procedures, common tooling but also the visibility of each other’s work, so that the matrix organization can work.
Permitting an audit done in one part of the world, to be visible to the global functions responsible for the action areas.”
Prior to Heineken selecting a professional tool, Group Audit utilized an in-house, dispersed LotusNotes system. However, this was not utilized across the globe by all.
Following this, they moved to an ‘e-room’ solution, which provided more of a structure to the audit work, but still did not provide a real process standardization that was so critical to their need.
After evaluating three or four software providers against a set criteria and visiting reference sites for each of the tools, Internal Audit was selected.
Caroline clarified that Internal Audit was the chosen supplier due to “the flexibility it offered us to have our process in the process of the audit management system.”
Caroline Griffiths, Senior Manager at Global Audit Corporate & Professional Practice at Heineken, explained: “There became an increased need to ensure we had one common way of working, standardized procedures, common tooling but also the visibility of each other’s work, so that the matrix organization can work.
Permitting an audit done in one part of the world, to be visible to the global functions responsible for the action areas.”
Prior to Heineken selecting a professional tool, Group Audit utilized an in-house, dispersed LotusNotes system. However, this was not utilized across the globe by all.
Following this, they moved to an ‘e-room’ solution, which provided more of a structure to the audit work, but still did not provide a real process standardization that was so critical to their need.
After evaluating three or four software providers against a set criteria and visiting reference sites for each of the tools, Internal Audit was selected.
Caroline clarified that Internal Audit was the chosen supplier due to “the flexibility it offered us to have our process in the process of the audit management system.”
Flexible, customizable and user-friendly; for those reasons I would recommend Internal Audit to my peers.
How did Internal Audit become Heineken’s audit management tool and “professionalise their operations”?
Internal Audit is Ideagen’s market-leading solution and is developed using the latest Microsoft technologies to empower internal audit departments to save essential time, increase efficiencies and maximise the power of collaborative working.
It integrates all aspects of the audit cycle from annual planning to detailed risk assessment and controls testing, through to action tracking and Audit Committee reporting.
Heineken has noted that by implementing and using Internal Audit to conduct their audits, the Group Audit division has been able to professionalise their operations.
Furthermore, this has enabled them to achieve a structured, disciplined but flexible way of working, which was precisely their aim when moving to a specialist audit management solution.
When Caroline was asked how she would describe Internal Audit in a few words she described the software as: “Flexible, customisable and user-friendly,” adding “for those reasons I would recommend Pentana to my peers.”requirements and most recently incorporating our Quality Assurance auditing.
The benefits
Implement a consistent methodology
Compliant with international risk and auditing standards
Simplifies global deployment
Install from a website and get automatic updates downloaded without user intervention
Optimises performance
For use over a wide range of network speeds as well as working off-line to provide a true global working environment for GRC professionals
Pentana has multiple uses
Can also be used for Enterprise Risk Management, SOX compliance, investigations, Health and Safety or any application where risk assessment and centralized action tracking are required
Could Internal Audit become your gateway to improved audit management?
Contact us to find out how you could introduce streamlined and centralized control within your organization.