4 SOX Process Makeovers, Before and After

Since I've been stuck inside the past few months, I've been watching a lot of HGTV.

The network has an endless parade of shows with roughly the same premise: take that old, boring house at the end of the block and make it beautiful.

There's a similarity here with SOX compliance processes—hear me out. Companies start with a clunky, messy, or outdated process that just doesn't work for them anymore. They rip it out, and install a new one. In fact, that's what we do at Workiva all the time.

Here are four quick before-and-after stories from companies that remodeled their processes with Workiva.

NXP Semiconductors: No more late-night certifications

Before Workiva

NXP had previously managed SOX compliance with a third-party system that was inflexible and difficult to maintain. 

"It wasted so much time," said Trevor Harris, SOX manager for NXP. "At the end of the quarter, there were a lot of things that would break down. I would have to work until midnight on responding to emails in Asia and then wake up at 6:00 a.m. to deal with the emails I would get from Europe."

After Workiva

Now, all of NXP's SOX compliance work can be approached with flexibility and collaboration. Everyone can see their process in real time, communicated inside the platform, and work simultaneously regardless of time zones. 

Why Workiva works for them

"If you really want to revolutionize how you do finance and accounting—your reporting, your risk analysis, and start drilling into automation as well—I would look at Workiva," said Trevor. 

ZAGG Inc.: Eliminating SOX compliance tedium

Before Workiva

The ZAGG team only had time to work on SOX auditing. 

“We had no time to do anything else. We’d always talk about doing operational audits and significant process improvements, but with all the manual documentation, there wasn’t any time,” said McKay Bates, Internal Audit Manager of ZAGG.

After Workiva

The ZAGG team automated the most tedious parts of their SOX compliance process, which gave them time to initiate other process improvements and conduct operational audits.

Why Workiva works for them

“It allowed us a lot of time to start doing process improvements and operational audits that we just did not have time for in the past,” said McKay. “We increased external audit’s reliance by nearly 70%. It was significant, and that was because of the ease of Workiva. This has created considerable savings.”

Dr Pepper Snapple: Refreshing SOX compliance

Before Workiva

Eddie Holt, SOX compliance manager for Dr Pepper Snapple, categorizes the company’s previous SOX compliance process as “pretty typical” and “manual.” Information was gathered from around the company, processed in Word^® and Excel^®, stored in SharePoint^®, and reported to management using PowerPoint^®. This approach caused version control issues and made it difficult to track document changes, especially in the company’s 2,000-line control spreadsheet.

“A lot of people were working on it,” explains Eddie. “You were never feeling really sure if somebody changed something and you didn’t know about it. Trying to keep up with that was just a nightmare.” 

After Workiva

Dr Pepper Snapple implemented Workiva, and they were able to load data, build matrices, test sheets, and plans—which led to transparency into every activity, with an audit trail that reveals what changed, when it changed, and who changed it.

Why Workiva works for them

“I spend less time gathering information now, so I have more time to look at deficiencies and evaluate test plans,” explains Eddie. “Now that everything is linked, when we refresh next year, all of that information will already be in there.” 

Noodles & Company: Made-to-order compliance in two days

Before Workiva

When Noodles & Company went public, the financial accounting team needed better, more efficient ways to prepare for SOX compliance.

After Workiva

Carrie Hart, Senior Director of Financial Reporting and Compliance at Noodles & Company, wanted to take a phased-in approach to their SOX compliance process, starting with having an external auditor assess its processes. Results of the audit pointed to some processes that could be streamlined. This is where Workiva came into play. 

Why Workiva works for them

“I thought it would take a month—but it took two days” said Carrie. “It was amazing. Everything was perfect…I absolutely would recommend Workiva to any company thinking of going public or that’s already public that needs software to do its filings.”

Give your processes a makeover with Workiva

Workiva can give you an opportunity to revamp your SOX process from the ground up. It's got everything—including the (very chic farmhouse) kitchen sink—dashboarding, evidence request management, and so much more.

Set up a demo of Workiva for SOX Compliance now, and take your risk and controls processes from midcentury to modern.

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