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Account Reconciliations, Control Self-Assessments and More – Now Even Easier!

Posted on October 24, 2016 by Chris Burd
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With our upcoming release of policyIQ version 7.7, we are rolling out an unexcitingly named feature we refer to as “Form Bundle Imports”.  It might not have the flashiest name, but the feature can open new doors for your organization!

Form Bundles and Their Purpose

If you are familiar with forms in policyIQ, you know that you can pull forms together into bundles.  Form bundles are really just collections of forms to be issued at the same time, and bundling them together can make it easier to push them out.  Form bundles do serve another purpose, though.  By creating a form bundle, you are able to add unique default data to each instance of the form that is being issued.

For example, if you issue Account Reconciliation Forms, you may add the account number and account name to the form, so that you ensure that each account is covered in the reconciliations.  If you use a form bundle to collect Control Self-Assessments or Control Reviews, you will link each instance to a different Control page, so that each control is covered in the assessment.

Typically, the first set-up of the form bundle can be a bit cumbersome, as you likely either had to set up each individual instance by hand, or perhaps you engaged our support team to import the details for you.  After the initial set-up, you probably just copied the form bundle for subsequent periods.  Because of the cumbersome nature of the set-up, it is unlikely that you added new, customized data each time.

Now – Let’s Imagine Being Able to Import Detailed Default Data On Demand!

Account Reconciliations is the area where we expect that this import option offers the most dramatic change.  Now, a simple import can pull in unique data on the first day of the month – including account name, account number, and current balance!

We also know that the controls that your organization manages do not always stay static.  Being able to import based on your current list of in-scope key controls will allow you to more quickly create an accurate and complete Control Review or Control Self-Assessment process.  And if you bring on a new entity or acquire a new company?  No problem!  A quick import will add their controls to the mix.

We’ve also recently talked to clients about automating Evidence Requests, and this import function will make it easy to create forms and push out requests when needed.  Simply create your list of evidence required, who is required to provide it, and import.  Boom.

Tell Us How You Will Use Form Bundle Imports!

We know that when we release a feature like Form Bundle Imports, we will have clients who will be thinking of new ways to use the feature that never occurred to use before.  What do you think?  How are you planning to use this new feature?

Contact us with your ideas (or post them below) – or reach out if you have any questions about how to use this feature.  Version 7.7 will be coming soon!

Posted in Features, Releases, Solutions | Tagged account reconciliations, PBC, policyIQ, Sarbanes-Oxley, SOX | Leave a reply

See who is driving business forward using policyIQ!

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Go to our website, www.policyIQ.com, to learn more, download datasheets, request a trial, demo, or to buy policyIQ! You may also reach out to us directly at 1.866.753.1231 or info@policyIQ.com.

May 3, 2016 by Stephenie Buehrle
Posted in Industry News, Solutions Tagged 302, account reconciliations, accounting, audit, Banking, Biotech, Biotechnology, compliance, Contract, Contract Management, Education, Electronic, ERM, Financial Services, global, grc, healthcare, HR, human resources, IT, Legal, Manufacturing, Non-Profit, Policy, policy management, Private, public, Retail, Risk, SOX, supply chain, Technology, Utilities Leave a reply

We’re not trying to keep this a secret. Really.

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Go to our website, www.policyIQ.com, to learn more, download datasheets, request a trial, demo, or to buy policyIQ! You may also reach out to us directly at 1.866.753.1231 or info@policyIQ.com.

April 13, 2016 by Stephenie Buehrle
Posted in Solutions Tagged 302, account reconciliations, all-in-one, audit, Certification, compliance, consolidate, Contract, Control Self-Assessments, Controls, FCPA, modules, policy management, Risk Leave a reply

Feel like you’re babysitting the Account Rec process?

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Stephenie Buehrle
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Do you sometimes get frustrated that you or your team is wasting valuable time and talent on the tedious job of babysitting your Account Reconciliation process?

Month after month…

Month after month

“Who have we heard from?”
“Who still needs to get their rec in?”
“I need to set some time aside to send out reminders.”
“I need to set time aside to make sure the recs I have received are complete.”
“I need to follow-up with those who sent in incomplete recs.”
“I need to set some time aside to send out reminders.”

Literally every one of these babysitting tasks listed above can be wiped out—taken care of without wasting any valuable time or reducing your talented team to this tedious busy work. You can implement policyIQ to administer your account reconciliation process!

While you often hear of policyIQ being applied for Risk and Compliance initiatives and Policy Management, it has also been used for years by companies who have tapped into the Forms and Workflow capabilities of policyIQ to make them more efficient in other areas. This post highlights the advantages realized by just one of our many clients taking advantage of policyIQ for their Account Reconciliation process. We also have step by step guidance in the online policyIQ “Help” guide (located in the top right corner of your policyIQ windows when you’re logged in).

If you’re interested in moving up from your babysitting gig, reach out to us and we’ll work with you (guidance free of charge) to start taking advantage of these benefits:

  • Simplified administration
  • Automated inventory of who has/has not responded
  • Required fields (recs are always complete)
  • Automated reminders with customized timing and messages
  • Reporting on actionable items (unreconciled balances, accounts with variance over a certain amount)
  • Automated communication/notification
  • Audit trail
  • Data retention

Implementation is fast, straightforward and very affordable. You could be up and running before next month’s rec! Contact us today at support@policyIQ.com or 1-866-753-1231. Talk to you soon!

Posted in Features, Solutions | Tagged account reconciliations, Automation, balance, calculated fields, Expand, forms, Leverage, Reconciliations, reports, Value, variance, workflow | Leave a reply

Save Time with Automated, Customized Form Reminder Emails

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Chris Burd
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Over the years, we’ve received many requests from clients to be able to customize more of the automated email messages that policyIQ has available.  We’ve been working to make this possible in many areas of the product, and in version 7.2, we’ve added the ability to customize an automated, recurring reminder email on form bundles – with HMTL formatting and a recurring schedule!

automatedreminders

That’s a lot to take in, so let’s break it down.

Automated Form Bundle Reminders

Let’s say you issue annual policy sign-offs in policyIQ.  (This examples works just as well with quarterly 302 certifications, monthly account reconciliations, or quarterly control self-assessments.)  Once the forms are issued, your job as the administrator of the process has just started.  Now you need to check on those forms regularly to see who hasn’t responded, and send out a reminder email.

Or do you?

With policyIQ version 7.2, you can set up a reminder email to go out automatically.  You create the email message when you issue the form bundle, and it does the rest.

Set your Recurring Schedule

Not only can you set up the reminder email to be sent automatically, but YOU set the schedule on which it recurs.  Do you want it to go out weekly?  Every two weeks?  Is Monday the best day to send it?  Thursday?  Should it go out every single day until the response is received?  You decide with a simple selection of recurring schedule and day(s) of the week.

But wait – there’s more!

HTML Formatting for a More Powerful Message

One reason many organizations choose to send emails from their local email client instead of policyIQ has been because of the bland nature of the plain text email.  Now you can format your message using HTML Formatting (just like you see in the Rich Text (HTML) Fields) – and help set the tone for the urgency of the message.

Change the Message or the Timing as Needed

Even better?  You can change the message or the timing of the message at any time.

So Let’s Recap:

  • Automated emails so that you don’t have to babysit your form bundle responses
  • Set up on the recurring schedule that works best for your organization and your process
  • HTML formatted messages to make sure that the message hits home with the audience.
  • Flexibility to change the message or the timing as needed!

If you have form bundles being issued in policyIQ, you are going to want to check this out right away.  Go to Form Management –> Form Templates –> [CATEGORY] –> Form Bundles.  You’ll see these options on the “Edit Form Bundle” window when you choose to edit the properties.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.  We look forward to learning more about how you are using the automated form bundle reminders.

Posted in Features, Releases | Tagged 302 Certifications, account reconciliations, communications, policyIQ, Sarbanes-Oxley, SOX, SOX 302, SOX 404 | Leave a reply

Use 7.2’s Calculated Fields for Risk Assessments and much more!

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Stephenie Buehrle
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What exactly are calculated fields?

In a recent blog post, we announced that policyIQ has learned to do math! There are a number of requests that clients of different types have submitted related to this feature: such as a request for a field that displays the variance between two other fields, one that reports that balance of an account, a field that determines the weighted rating of an item or one that provides the remaining value of a lease. In such cases over the years, our simple response to these requests has been that “policyIQ doesn’t do math”. We have rounded the bend with version 7.2 and introduced Calculated Fields.

When a Template Administrator meets the minimum requirement of adding a numerically based field (whole number, decimal number or currency) to their Template, then the option to add a Calculated Whole Number, Calculated Decimal Number or a Calculated Currency field will become available in the list of possible Field Types.

Why should you care about this development?

In a word: efficiency. This change can help you to stop performing double-work in multiple applications. Have you enjoyed the workflow, information tracking and reporting ability that you’ve had with policyIQ, but you have had to perform your reconciliations, ratings, term calculations and so on in Excel or on a calculator? policyIQ can be your one-stop shop now. Now, you can more efficiently manage recurring processes by assigning forms to relevant staff (especially paired with the 7.2 ability to pre-schedule custom reminders for those with open forms)!

How do you utilize the Calculated Fields?

If we take the Risk Assessment as an example, you can calculate the Risk Level of each Financial Statement line item using the Calculated Decimal Field to determine the weighted average of your Risk Factors. In other non-mathematical geeky terms, you can add a field for each Risk Factor and even add a field representing the appropriate weight of each Risk Factor.

In the example below, Static Fields were also added to provide guidance on how to complete the Risk Assessment. All of these fields are customizable.

Calculated Decimal Field Example

Finally, notice the field labelled “Calculated Risk Assessment”.  Using the Calculated Decimal Field Type, a calculation was built using common math operations to multiply each Risk Factor Rating by the associated weight and to add up the results. The field is added to the template from which pages are created, so your staff that is performing the Risk Assessment can focus on evaluating the level of each Risk Factor for your Financial Statement Line Items rather than wrestling with Excel formulas.

When can you begin taking advantage of this new field?

A number of policyIQ clients have already been upgraded to the latest release of policyIQ, version 7.2. If you have not yet seen these enhancements, then your upgrade is coming soon! We will be rolling out the upgrade over the next few weeks.

Speaking of fields, we are happy to field any questions that you have about this enhancement and any other new features in the latest release. Feel free to reach out to us with questions, ideas, or even if you just want to brainstorm on how to make your processes more automated and efficient!

Posted in Features, Releases | Tagged account reconciliations, Calculations, Contracts, Math, risk assessment, SOX | Leave a reply

Highlights from recent webinar: Using policyIQ for Account Reconciliations!

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Stephenie Buehrle
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We’d like to offer a big thanks to everyone who attended our recent policyIQ solution-focused training session on using policyIQ to manage a monthly Account Reconciliation process. And special thanks to our co-presenter, Patrick Griffiths from Sirva, Inc. Patrick shared his experience and some of the insights he’s gained from implementing a global Account Reconciliation process at SIRVA.

SIRVA’s story

SIRVA has multiple divisions globally and a strong internal control structure. Within this setting, Patrick set out to provide better control and visibility around the Account Reconciliation process. As Patrick emphasized during the presentation, “The timely completion and review of Account Reconciliations is your strongest and best financial control.” As a long-time policyIQ user, Patrick believed the Forms Management feature would help SIRVA manage their Account Reconciliations more efficiently and provide a level of oversight few organizations have.

Goals and Benefits

Heading into his Account Reconciliation implementation, Patrick had identified the following goals, which will likely be familiar to anyone currently working with a manual Account Reconciliation process:

  • Insure that all Account Reconciliations are completed timely.
  • Provide a method for documented approvals of Account Reconciliations.
  • Provide all levels of Management visibility into the Account Reconciliation process.

Like many of our clients who are using policyIQ’s Forms Management feature to automate their manual processes, SIRVA has recognized some key benefits:

  • Reconcilers have visibility to the Account Reconciliations they need to complete.
  • Clearly indicated due dates.
  • Electronic submissions and approvals.
  • Reporting and electronic storage of approved Account Reconciliations.
  • Shift from manual auditing to continuous auditing.
  • Unprecedented level of oversight for all levels of management

Patrick answered a number of questions from our curious attendees. He has also taken the time to answer some additional questions below:

Question: How many people were involved in developing the roll-out of this functionality and then in the maintenance?

Patrick Responds:

Initially I planned and rolled out the pilot to Asia myself but then with the other global divisions I worked closely with the respective controllers to set up their system. I had two training decks, one for administrators and another for users. Each of our divisions has different abilities and resources, so we tailored our approach with each.

For continuing administration there are normal monthly tasks to roll over the recons, and then there are the other support type issues. Originally I handled everything myself but worked to hand off the monthly administration to the businesses (work in progress.) For general support, we leveraged our financial support team to absorb these tasks. They are approved to add an additional FTE if needed, but presently we have been able to manage with the folks we have. We use an automated helpdesk ticket system to keep track of requests which helps a lot.

For larger issues we rely on policyIQ support; they have been great. I contact them myself to limit the traffic to them and coordinate the requests.

Question:  Is it possible to feed accounts balances from individual reconciliations into another reconciliation?

Patrick Responds:

This is not a feature in policyIQ, but it is really not something that I want. Do to the nature of an account reconciliation, I want the preparer to enter all numbers themselves to have better accountability to what is being submitted. This goes to the issue about uploading G/L balances to the recons. I also do not want to do this because I want the preparer to look at the G/L and enter the current balance. If they rely on the uploaded number, it may not be the most current.

Question:  How does SIRVA address changes?  Some users will issue a “corrected reconciliation” form if there are changes after approval has already been granted.

Patrick Responds:

We do the same thing. We will push out a new reconciliation for the revised account to the preparer. If we do not have a need to see the previous approved recon, we assign it to a folder labeled “Misapproved recons”; we set up the security around this folder to only allow admins to see it.

Question:  Can a reconcilation have more than one account per report?

Patrick Responds:

Yes, but it is up to you to decide what you want to have included on a single reconciliation. Generally though, we stick to the one account, one recon rule. There are situations where we do include multiple accounts on a single recon like fixed asset accounts, or intercompany accounts. In these situations, we list out all of the account numbers in the recon so we can keep track of what accounts are being reconciled.

If you missed the session, you can view the recording by clicking here. We’ve also prepared some materials for you to review in your policyIQ Help Guide.

acctrec_solutions_outline

If you would like to speak with a member of the policyIQ team about using policyIQ to manage your Account Reconciliation work, please contact us at support@policyIQ.com.  We’d be happy to work with you and help you better utilize policyIQ!

Posted in Solutions, Training | Tagged account reconciliations, forms | Leave a reply

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