Establishing credibility and delivering value to the organization with TeamMate Analytics

After incorporating TeamMate Analytics into his audit process, and benefitting from its compatibility with Excel, Brett was able to analyze the entire population of PCard purchases and quickly extract the data that he had been searching for. The programming and parameters that he needed were already built into the application, requiring even less time for Brett to become both comfortable and proficient with the TeamMate Analytics tool.

Discovering depth of functionality

The more time Brett spent with TeamMate Analytics the more he discovered additional areas of risk and other findings not previously apparent. And nowhere was this more obvious than during an audit of AzGT’s employee payroll.

While conducting individual audits of employee vacation and overtime submissions, TeamMate Analytics allowed Brett to sort through and quickly identify any irregularities and issues worth looking into further. Rather than taking a random sampling of employees’ hours to evaluate and analyze, Brett was able to take a much larger cut, equating to thousands of records. This process prompted additional questions that warranted further examination and discovery and positioned Brett as a trusted advisor to the business, elevating his work to that of more than just auditing.

“Sharing this audit information with senior executives as a trusted advisor has allowed them to consider things like: ‘Is this the right amount of overtime? Do we have too much overtime? Do we need more employees? Do we need to somehow organize this better so it's not costing as much?’ Before TeamMate Analytics, I could never have been able to do this.” — Brett Bergeson, Internal Audit

Building confidence with management

How do you build confidence with your management team so that they take your recommendations seriously? So that they believe what you're showing them are things that need to be fixed (or potentially fixed) or, at a minimum, examined more closely? It all comes down to the credibility of the data being reviewed.

People are busy. It doesn’t matter if you’re a line manager or the CEO of the company. If you come to them with a potential issue, but are incapable of providing supporting documentation, that’s a problem. But if you come prepared, with the data to prove it, that’s something real. That’s something substantive. You’re no longer “wasting their time” but rather offering options and recommendations for appropriate next steps.

“Credibility, it's a huge thing. You know it's true. And, I think this is particularly true when it comes to internal audit, where you're making those type of recommendations. You've got to be very careful with your approach. You've got to have confidence in your answers.” — Brett Bergeson, Internal Audit

Peer-to-peer advice

It has become nearly impossible to gain sufficient audit evidence and risk coverage using more traditional (e.g., manual) audit methods. Relying on sampling alone is no longer good enough. Data analytics allow auditors to carry out more work — in less time — with expanded coverage. TeamMate Analytics has been providing its customers with greater audit insights through deeper and more robust analysis.

“Change is hard. It’s not always good, in and of itself. But analytics is a good change and it's going to save you time. [TeamMate Analytics] is going to help you organize your data and allow [you] to look at the entire population, rather than just a sample.” — Brett Bergeson, Internal Audit

When Brett mentioned to his CEO that he was scheduled to speak with TeamMate about their analytics capabilities, his response was: “If that’s the tool you’re using to bring that level of data analysis to us, go for it.”

TeamMate Analytics provides immediate savings in the time spent on administrative tasks. It expands the population set to 100% which allows for greater opportunity to identify and report on hidden risks. The reporting visuals it generates prompts better communication with stakeholders and further establishes credibility for the audit function, all of which equates to delivering greater value back to the organization.