Thursday, May 15, 2008

APEX Analytix Forms Alliance with Visual Risk IQ

Sharing some news about our firm that crossed the wire this week...

source: Triad Daily Business News

Consulting firm to represent APEX Analytix software and services as part of its advisory capabilities in continuous auditing and monitoring.

GREENSBORO – APEX Analytix, a leading provider of services and software for performance improvement, error prevention and fraud detection in accounts payable, today announced a new alliance agreement with Visual Risk IQ, a consulting and systems integration firm specializing in risk advisory services for large global businesses.

Under the terms of the agreement, Visual Risk IQ now will represent APEX Analytix recovery audit and fraud detection services, as well as the company’s industry-leading FirstStrike™ software for continuous monitoring of accounts payable for errors and fraud.

“APEX Analytix offers best-in-class people and technology, backed by a solid 20-year track record,” said Joe Oringel, managing director, Visual Risk IQ. “As a result, we now can offer our clients an innovative combination of software and services that can help them meet even their most aggressive governance, risk and compliance objectives.”

The APEX Analytix FirstStrike™ software family helps companies protect their bottom line. FirstStrikeTM Fraud Detect provides the continuous monitoring companies need to fight fraud in accounts payable disbursements. FirstStrike™ Accounts Payable and FirstStrike™ Purchasing automate the detection and prevention of errors in accounts payable and procurement. APEX Analytix also provides a broad range of recovery audit and vendor risk analysis services through its team of certified auditors and fraud examiners.

Visual Risk IQ specializes in helping companies plan and implement continuous, auditing and monitoring solutions that help them achieve their specific business objectives through increased frequency and depth of risk and control analysis. The company works with a variety of Fortune 1000 firms across a broad range of industry sectors.

“Visual Risk IQ is a great fit for us,” said Chris Siemasko, vice president of product management for APEX Analytix. “They are widely recognized as thought leaders in risk analysis, and they share our belief in the value of continuous monitoring to improve internal controls. We see them leading the evolution in this emerging market through advisory services, educational seminars and a proprietary maturity model that helps clients turn their strategic vision of the future into a reality.”

About APEX Analytix

APEX Analytix is an innovative audit recovery firm serving more than a third of the Fortune 100. The company has transformed the audit recovery industry with FirstStrike™, a highly functional family of standards-based software that detects and prevents both errors and fraud and improves performance across the procure-to-pay process. To date FirstStrike™ has saved businesses more than $1.5 billion in overpayments and is the most widely used software of its type. For more information call 800.284.4522 or visit www.apexanalytix.com.

About Visual Risk IQ

Visual Risk IQ helps people responsible for governance, risk and compliance achieve their compliance and business performance objectives through practical application of process changes and innovative technologies. The company provides value for clients using a combination of experienced-based learning and co-sourcing projects, satisfying current requirements in the context of a future vision. For more information on Visual Risk IQ, visit www.visualriskiq.com.

source: Triad Daily Business News

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Top CFO concern's - How Continuous Auditing (CA) can help

CFO Magazine and Duke's Fuqua School of Business published their quarterly Top 10 Concerns of CFO's on May 1, 2008, and this quarter's list seems to demonstrate the potential benefit of more frequent and more in-depth controls monitoring and auditing procedures. To read the article in full, please click thru to: http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/11078610/c_11081639?f=insidecfo

Though most CFO concerns are repeats from previous quarters (e.g. weak consumer demand, credit markets, and the housing market fall-out), a couple of new entrants demonstrate the potential value of continuous auditing and monitoring. Specifically, Costs of Health Care, Costs of Fuel and Costs of Non-Fuel Commodities all represent opportunities, based on our current experience with Continuous Auditing (CA) and Continuous Monitoring (CM).

Visual Risk IQ is currently working with several large global enterprises on pilots of continuous auditing and monitoring in the areas of Procurement Card (P-Card), Travel and Entertainment (T&E) and Employee Health Benefits. Examples of P-Card and T&E issues identified by CA / CM include 40 and 50 gallon fuel purchases for employees who drive company cars with 15 gallon tanks. No matter what the cost of fuel per gallon, using Company funds to fuel a personal boat or the neighbors SUV(s) is not inappropriate. In the case of Employee Health Benefits, we will be using sophisticated data mining and analytics to find claims that have been paid by a Company's Third Party Administrator where the claims are not in compliance with the Summary Plan Description.

Going back to recover Health Claims, T&E or P-Card expenditures that have been paid in error is sometimes perceived as a time-consuming and costly process. However, use of modern CA and CM software can dramatically reduce the cost of detecting these errors. Further, because the errors can be detected closer to the transaction date (and often before the payments are made!), the investment in CA / CM can pay for itself many times over.

Stay tuned, as we hope to chronicle some of the specifics of these reviews....

Joe Oringel
Visual Risk IQ
Charlotte, North Carolina