Business Processes Diagnostic

was created with the notion that the financial system of an organization is like the nervous system of a human body.

One can determine the health of that system and diagnose problems and issues by using advanced analytical techniques to read and process the data that remains as a result of the hundreds and thousands of transactions that work their way through the normal course of business.

This can be thought of as Process Mining,
as opposed to Data Mining.

And just as we deem it wise to have a healthcare professional do a check up on us before a big event like starting a new exercise program or perhaps taking an adventure trip, so too should organizations take a health check of their business processes before a significant event like:

• Appointment of a new CFO,

• Pending merger, acquisition or take over,

• Suspicion of irregular activity,

• Conversion to new ERP system,

• Annual Audit.

This analytical process will surface issues that may indicate problems with the particular business process. Our reports summarize issues under the following headings:

• System / Control Weaknesses,

• Business Process Improvement Opportunities,

• Data Integrity Assessment,

• Irregular Activity,

• Key Performance Indicators / Benchmarking,

• Risk Management Issues.

We have a track record that speaks for itself. In our Purchase to Pay process analysis we have delivered significant benefits to clients:

• Duplicate payment recoveries,

• Data cleansing,

• Pro-Active fraud detection,

• Opportunities to improve future cash flow by preventing further cash leakage,

• Opportunities to negotiate better terms from suppliers,

• Ongoing risk management value of a plausible deterrent to future irregular conduct.

We like to think that external audits will surface any operational risk issues but the reality is that they don’t and are not designed to do so. They are designed to express an opinion on the fair presentation of a set of financial statements. Using terms like ‘reasonable assurance’ and ‘fairly present’ these opinions are not geared toward an in-depth health check of a set of business processes.

Auditors may also use ‘materiality limits’ and sampling techniques which do not give them 100% confidence in their testing and this typically leaves a vast number of transactions untouched.

D3CIFER was designed to examine every transaction in a particular business process. It harnesses the power of advanced analytical tools to find hidden monetary value—in data patterns, errors and unusual items.

Many organizations with computerized accounting systems do not have the resources to track and monitor significant risks—of duplicate payments, payments to fictitious vendors, sales tax overpayments, excessive employee expense claims, and so on.

Often, the only controls used to address these risks are manual. The implementation of detailed application controls is often delayed or not fully implemented due to ignorance or to increase the performance of ERP systems. The sheer number of transactions compounds the problem.

To add to the problem, a review of all payments is just not practical for most managers.

The result is that system-related problems, resulting in losses, year after year, bleed the organization—and they are hidden.