Pentana Audit has increased FORUM Credit Union’s audit capacity by 35%
FORUM Credit Union (FCU) is a cooperative, member-owned, financial institution based in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The organization has $1.7 billion in balance sheet assets as of December 2020.
The challenge: moving from manual processes to internal audit software
With pressures emerging due to the growth of FORUM Credit Union (FCU) as well as a desire to move away from dated manual auditing processes, the internal audit management team required an automated solution to increase visibility of operational performance and meet growing client needs.
Rick Walke, VP of Internal Audit and Risk Management at FCU, commented: “Our previous system depended on lots of effort and time from our staff and, although it worked for us and suited the way we worked, it fell short in a number of areas.
“When we discovered Pentana Audit, we were impressed by the structure and configurability of the product. And even better for us, we could tailor it to fit our existing processes, implementing what worked well from our previous paper-based system.”
The challenge: moving from manual processes to internal audit software
With pressures emerging due to the growth of FORUM Credit Union (FCU) as well as a desire to move away from dated manual auditing processes, the internal audit management team required an automated solution to increase visibility of operational performance and meet growing client needs.
Rick Walke, VP of Internal Audit and Risk Management at FCU, commented: “Our previous system depended on lots of effort and time from our staff and, although it worked for us and suited the way we worked, it fell short in a number of areas.
“When we discovered Pentana Audit, we were impressed by the structure and configurability of the product. And even better for us, we could tailor it to fit our existing processes, implementing what worked well from our previous paper-based system.”
Pentana Audit is different, everyone that I have met from Ideagen has sat in my seat as an auditor at one time or another and it is really clear that hands-on experience has been developed into the software.
Navigating the changing financial crime landscape
When new risks emerge and regulations change, Pentana Audit helps the FCU team to keep up with their obligations.
For example, when it comes to conducting their objective risk control analysis (ORCA), the software helps to align their internal audits with key regulations such as the Bank Secrecy Act.
Chad explains: “We have seen new risks emerge around bitcoin, marijuana and debit card fraud in recent times. Pentana Audit helps us to take a risk-based approach to continuously track these issues and the regulations surrounding them.
FCU’s risk manager can go through each audit, pull out the applicable risks and ensure that controls are in place.”
Tracking all risks through Pentana Audit has allowed the team to organise and handle their data in a much easier fashion.
Chad added: “Being able to go through each risk associated with financial crime and individually reassess it against current figures to see what is going to fall in and out of scope is wonderfully useful!”
The results
Full audit trail - Pentana Audit automates the process of managing, numbering, and filing work papers, giving FCU the ability to pull work papers out of the system quickly and on-demand to allow a third party – such as a regulator – to look at them.
An efficiency that allows the credit union to focus their time on doing real audit work.
Pentana Audit also acts as a central system for all historical and current audit data.
Rick added: “Being able to have information easily accessible as a backup in case we are ever called into question by a regulator or court of law is crucial and extremely reassuring.”
Planning and reporting - Electronic management and scheduling of audit plans within the solution is another huge plus for FCU, providing the company with complete visibility of the status and progress of each audit.
“We uploaded our audit plan straight into Pentana Audit and all of our audits are set up electronically, including budgeted time, targeted report dates etc.
The software gives us an excellent and quick way to see where we are in terms of our audit plan and with a simple click or two, I can see what is going on, what my team is doing, if there are any tasks outstanding and why.
I can manage the entire department from one place.”
Real-time assurance - Pentana Audit allowed FCU to track, pull out and present information in real-time with minimal effort.
Chad explains: “We track everything inside the software. If I need information, I can obtain it immediately, keeping us one step ahead.
It allows us to work out the root cause of a problem, identifying the first domino if you like, then create an action plan to mitigate this.
Pentana Audit will generate reports for this, which enables us to present it to any clients or colleagues as quickly as possible.”
I’m Vice President of the Indianapolis Internal Audit Board and I meet a lot of other internal auditors who are shopping for software. I always recommend Pentana Audit.
Why Pentana Audit?
Pentana Audit’s objective risk control tests fitted in perfectly with FCU’s risk objectives: “When we saw the way the software was designed, we knew this matched exactly with the way we worked, but it was also flexible enough to add all of our ticks in too.
We decided Pentana Audit was the best option.”
Rick and Chad were unanimous in their opinion that Ideagen is a great company to work with. Rick explains:
“Most of the systems we looked at prior to selecting Pentana and working with Ideagen seemed to have been developed by external accountants – developing it to the way that they worked and not to how an internal auditor works.”
“Pentana Audit is different, everyone that I have met from Ideagen has sat in my seat as an auditor at one time or another and it is really clear that hands-on experience has been developed into the software.”
Chad added: “Having an actual auditor at the forefront of the technology is crucial and contributes to how well the software works.”
Why Pentana Audit?
Pentana Audit’s objective risk control tests fitted in perfectly with FCU’s risk objectives: “When we saw the way the software was designed, we knew this matched exactly with the way we worked, but it was also flexible enough to add all of our ticks in too.
We decided Pentana Audit was the best option.”
Rick and Chad were unanimous in their opinion that Ideagen is a great company to work with. Rick explains:
“Most of the systems we looked at prior to selecting Pentana and working with Ideagen seemed to have been developed by external accountants – developing it to the way that they worked and not to how an internal auditor works.”
“Pentana Audit is different, everyone that I have met from Ideagen has sat in my seat as an auditor at one time or another and it is really clear that hands-on experience has been developed into the software.”
Chad added: “Having an actual auditor at the forefront of the technology is crucial and contributes to how well the software works.”
Benefits
A centralised interface provides complete oversight of audit activity, alongside a dashboard of performance data
An automated documentation system has saved hours of time
FCU’s auditing techniques and processes have been mirrored electronically and automated, saving time and ensuring consistency
Risk-based analysis and heat maps allow FCU to identify emerging risks and ensure controls are in place to mitigate these risks
Improve your auditing efficiencies and risk assessments today
Contact Ideagen for more information on how Pentana Audit could help your organisation.