The Brandtech Group Tightens Internal Controls With Workiva and PwC

The Brandtech Group, a private marketing technology company, assists the world’s most recognizable brands in reaching their consumers beyond traditional advertising channels faster, better and cheaper, with the latest technology. Arthur Magoola, Head of Internal Controls and Compliance, needed to rein in the inherent, error-prone risks of manual reporting in Brandtech’s internal controls environment as the organization embarked on its private-to-public journey.

By partnering with PwC and implementing Workiva’s internal controls management and SEC reporting solutions, he integrated the SOX and SEC reporting workspaces and fine-tuned Brandtech’s controls environment. 

Bridging the gaps

Brandtech’s business units function independently, with financial operations varying across the company’s multiple entities. Consequently, Arthur needs to know every firm’s unique financial reporting process, which increases the volume of internal controls assessments. Arthur and his team were initially tracking them using a traditional desktop spreadsheet application, but the increasing magnitude and intricacies of data management made oversight and remediation of gaps challenging. Amassing the data for stakeholders was equally problematic and time-consuming. 

PwC, led by Afeef Mizra, Head of Internal Controls and Compliance, later partnered with Brandtech to review, refresh and update its Risk and Control Matrix (RACM) with Workiva. At the outset, Afeef observed the typical marker of manual record keeping using traditional systems: Inaccurate data as a vast number of sensitive RACM files in scattered spreadsheets was inconsistent, which hobbled operations.

One tool syncs SEC and SOX reporting

Arthur sought a solution that could connect the SOX and SEC reporting functions. He knew competing platforms offered similar data-linking features, but only Workiva provided the unified integration he sought. Arthur said from the start, it was clear Workiva offered a lot more. “Other solutions focused very much on the SOX element, but they didn't quite meet our needs, and I didn't want to have two separate tools. The ability to connect the SOX workspace to the SEC’s tipped the scales massively toward Workiva for me,” he said.  

With PwC’s guidance, Arthur then secured Workiva’s internal controls management and SEC reporting solutions together. After quickly rolling out the SEC reporting module, he and Afeef set out to digitise Brandtech’s internal controls processes.  

Setting new sight lines 

Arthur intended to create single control lines that address multiple risks simultaneously across certain entities, as opposed to mapping a single control to each risk for all controls—a strategy that’s not only practical but also cost-conscious. Workiva’s agile functionality allowed Arthur and Afeef to achieve this environment without replicating controls or redesigning the data model, which would have required significant time and costs. “One of Workiva’s key features is that it anticipates a business situation where you can associate a control with multiple entities without having to duplicate the record in the system. We’ve struggled with other vendors in this regard,” Afeef said. 

With centralised and connected data, Arthur can quickly update mapping of the controls to the risks across multiple entities. “If we've made a mistake, for example, in mapping of risks or if a control environment changes and the specific risks associated with that control need to be remapped, it's relatively easy and quick to fix without having to make revisions to everything,” he said.

The number of users that require access to the SOX workspace has grown to around 100 people and continues to grow. However, applying user-level permissions for each individual to have specific access across nine entities would require too much time. With group permissioning, he can enable granular access to certain accounts, documents and tools that are applicable only to a specific group, while other collaborators don’t have to sieve through irrelevant documentation to complete their tasks. 

Arthur’s visibility into revisions and comments across the audit narrative is clearer as well. “Issue tracking in the Workiva platform has really been helpful because I can have a specific conversation about a specific issue with specific individuals without involving anyone else,” he said. 

Ease of uptake  

Workiva’s customer support, functional design and upskilling resources facilitated rapid adoption. To help solve assessment tracking and remediation hurdles, Arthur needed assistance from the customer experience team to alter a form template.  “I reached out to the Workiva support team to help me add a field that was absolutely crucial because I could not assign the issues to specific individuals using the form as it was, and the team was quick to get back to me and resolve the setback,” he said. 

Workiva’s usability also enabled a swift on-ramp for teams. “Because the system is quite intuitive, you’re able to roll it out to a wider end-user group quickly,” Afeef said. Arthur added, “Workiva’s useful features, dashboards and reports, which, based on my experience, are relatively easy to get your head around even if you're not a data expert—which I certainly am not.”  

During the implementation process, Arthur discovered Workiva’s Marketplace, an inventory of templates, connectors and services from industry experts and the platform’s trusted partners that can offer him additional resources when needed. 

One of a kind

Afeef spoke broadly about current dialogue in the GRC business community around the need for integration and collaboration to strengthen the various lines of defenses and considered Workiva’s role in fostering these processes. “Licensing models from other platforms aren’t like Workiva’s, which promotes integration and cooperation among the different lines of defense—a big advantage compared to some other tools,” Afeef said. Meanwhile, PwC’s expertise in strengthening organisations’ GRC frameworks greatly assisted in implementing and driving value from the Workiva platform.

Having achieved transparency and connected SOX and SEC workspaces, Arthur identified one of Workiva’s key merits: “Workiva isn’t just a repository—it facilitates the improvement of internal controls environments and enables them to store information in a meaningful way,” he said.