Securing the fabric of trust
KPMG helped a global, multi-brand apparel company become Sarbanes-Oxley 404(b) compliant and fully integrate security, controls and GRC capabilities into SAP S/4HANA.
Client
A global multi-brand apparel company
Sector
Consumer goods and retail
Project
SOX compliance; security, controls and GRC for SAP S/4HANA ERP
Share
Client challenge
Our client is one of the world's largest apparel companies, selling multiple product lines through a combination of chain retailers, department stores, online sites, and its global footprint of retail stores.
Constant innovation and change are dominant forces in the culture of the company that has been making well-known clothing brands for more than a century. Instigating yet another major change when going public required the company to prove that its internal financial controls complied with SOX 404(b) standards.
Around the same time, the company initiated a multiyear transformation of its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to the latest SAP version, S/4HANA, to modernize and integrate this technology solution for its organization and respective customers. The company’s control environment was spread across a number of legacy SAP and other ERP systems, some in different countries. These systems were all at varying levels of control maturity, creating a need to ensure that security and controls were integrated.
To top off the challenges, all these initiatives were taking place as COVID-19 was restricting workplace and societal interactions.
A huge thank-you to the KPMG team for helping us achieve SOX 404(b) compliance and for ensuring that the same level of high internal control standards was implemented during our first release of SAP S/4HANA. I appreciate the KPMG team’s dedication to making 2020 a success and all the hard work the team put in throughout the year. We faced several challenges and tight timelines, and I have nothing but respect for how quickly the team worked together to accomplish so much.
Senior Director, Global SOX Compliance, worldwide apparel company
Business impact
Successful compliance with SOX 404(b) requirements and the first implementation and integration of new security, controls, and GRC protocols into the SAP S/4HANA system were completed within one year. Our client earned the trust of capital markets and stakeholders by meeting its compliance requirements for going public while at the same time reducing manual controls, increasing automation, and improving security in the new SAP S/4HANA system. The company achieved:
- successful SOX 404(b) compliance for the first time with no material weaknesses, enhancing shareholder trust
- an increase in control automation across key financial and IT processes by approximately 25 percent as part of the first phase of SAP S/4HANA global deployment, with plans to further optimize control automation in subsequent releases
- an efficient and effective SAP security framework and GRC access control solution deployed within S/4HANA that meets SOX compliance requirements.
Key KPMG initiatives
KPMG has been working with this global apparel company for more than a decade, therefore, as they considered going public, the organization also leveraged the capabilities of KPMG as it increased SOX compliance efforts at an accelerated pace.
In addition to the increased SOX efforts, our client gave us the opportunity to help integrate security, controls, and GRC protocols into the fabric of the SAP transformation that was occurring at the same time.
As part of the KPMG role, we helped our client:
- define a common set of global business and IT controls to further leverage automation within SAP
- define a global security template that is scalable and complies with SOX requirements, including separation of duties
- improve manual compliance controls to align with SOX requirements.
Although COVID-19 impacted in-person collaboration efforts, our offshore team handled about half of the work. We also complemented our team with consultants experienced with retail and fashion-specific technology.
Why KPMG?
-
Ambitious leaders want to move quickly
The preconfigured assets and technology accelerators delivered by KPMG Powered Enterprise let ambitious leadership teams take advantage of embedded leading practices to speed up the decision-making process while instilling confidence.
-
Technology change is all about chemistry
The chemistry we develop with our clients is a large factor in a “Why KPMG” determination. Our bench strength, leading industry experience, and extensive knowledge base enables us to work easily with our clients, quickly adopting their ways of working while providing a healthy challenge. That chemistry dynamic helps us build the right change management program to ensure user and supplier adoption, overcome old habits, and foster a sense of ownership within organizational teams.
-
Smarter together
Coupa enhances our ability to help clients transform their business spend management processes to add strategic value, increase process efficiencies, reduce costs, and improve free cash flow. Together we enable organizations to realize the benefits of a user-friendly procurement application that encourages adoption, increases management oversight, and enables greater visibility into corporate spending.
-
We are procurement geeks at heart
As experienced and resourceful advisers, we love to drive holistic digital transformation across all types of clients. We help procurement organizations create visions, develop strategies, execute plans, and make transformations stick.
Meet our team
Duleep Rodrigo
U.S. Sector Leader, Consumer & Retail, KPMG LLP
Blake Elder
Managing Director, Governance, Risk & Compliance, KPMG US
Duleep Rodrigo
U.S. Sector Leader, Consumer & Retail, KPMG LLP
Blake Elder
Managing Director, Governance, Risk & Compliance, KPMG US