Challenges
Based in Australia, Metcash is a leading grocery and liquor wholesaler and distributor that employs more than 5,000 people. With the help of state-of-the-art technology, the company oversees its accounts payable, payroll, human resources, taxation, accounting and warehouse operations.
The applications they were using to do this, though, operate in isolation of each other, leading to separate types of data and separate files. Needless to say, this made it exceptionally difficult to manage and remediate any exceptions that were identified. And with the company processing more than $5 billion in transactions each year, managing these exceptions manually was tedious, time-consuming—and risky.
Solution
To ensure that all of these transactions were being reviewed and that money wouldn’t fall through cracks in internal controls, Metcash adopted CaseWare Monitor (now Alessa) to concurrently monitor all transactions from multiple data sources to identify irregularities.
By monitoring all data, Alessa offers the company a comprehensive and holistic view of the business. Employees receive automated alerts via text message or email when the solution detects an exception, and the business can rest assured that their internal controls are in place and are effectively mitigating risks.
Results
By implementing Alessa, Metcash was able to identify several issues, particularly in accounts payable, that resulted in the company saving $1.8 million. Not surprisingly, the company was thrilled with the results, with its Chief Audit Executive noting that, “It’s very well to identify issues, but it’s the rectification of the issues that’s the most challenging.”
He also believes that when you consider the ISO 31000 standard for risk management in business, monitoring is the most important area. “With Monitor (Alessa),” he says, “you get comfort that issues are actually being rectified.”
Want to know more about how Metcash leverage technology to improve their internal controls and save their company millions? Watch the success video now: