Farm Credit Canada challenges its audit processes to gain greater efficiencies with TeamMate+
Established in 1959, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) is Canada’s largest agricultural term lender, providing financial services to farming operations, as well as to primary producers, agri-food operations and agribusinesses that support the agriculture industry. With 98 offices across rural Canada and 1,800 employees, FCC has continued to adapt and evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of the agriculture market, resulting in 25 years of consecutive portfolio growth.
And, for over 20 years, FCC has been a Wolters Kluwer TeamMate customer. FCC was the first company in Canada to implement TeamMate when they purchased the audit management system in 1996. FCC was also the first in the country to use TeamCloud hosting services, which helped them eliminate the burden of deploying and maintaining audit software upgrades or the associated infrastructure on their own.
In 2017, FCC’s Internal Audit Manager, Ron Vanasse, attended the TeamMate User Forum in San Diego. The User Forum is an annual event that offers internal auditors from a variety of industries the opportunity to collaborate and share best practices that help move the profession forward. In addition to networking, presentations and live demonstrations, the User Forum gives attendees hands-on experience with TeamMate solutions and allows them to connect with TeamMate experts.
It was at this User Forum where Vanasse was first introduced to TeamMate+, Wolters Kluwer’s fully configurable, web-based audit and assurance management expert solution. Vanasse returned home from the User Forum and immediately pitched TeamMate+ to management. FCC decided to move forward with the implementation—this time employing a more deliberate approach that addressed the people, processes and technology involved.