Case study: Collections industry client effectively integrates SOC reports

With transparency growing as a priority in the business world, for both management and stakeholders, System and Organization Controls (SOC) reports have become an essential tool to demonstrate the rigour of your system and data management practices. 

The following case study walks through how a client in the collections industry enhanced its compliance program by integrating SOC reports into their financial statement audit. Through a tailored and collaborative approach, our Enterprise Risk team helped the organization strengthen their controls, improve the security of their systems, and streamline their audit process.

The client’s challenge

An organization’s ability to demonstrate strong internal controls and secure systems is essential for building and reinforcing stakeholder trust. To help achieve this goal, our client — who was already working with our  audit team — sought to consolidate their compliance and control environment improvement efforts by integrating SOC reports into their existing processes.

The client was looking to get an independent assessment of their controls and systems, preferably one that would complement one already conducted by another firm. The goal was to improve work efficiency while enhancing the organization’s transparency and credibility with its business partners.

Our knowledge of the client, combined with a collaborative approach between our internal teams, allowed us to develop a structured SOC task that was tailored to the reality of their business.

Our approach

During this particular engagement, the planning phase was most critical. It allowed us to validate our understanding of the client’s processes, identify the most significant risks, and target efforts where they would have the greatest impact. Our intentional approach to planning allowed for the rest of the project to be flexible to our client’s operational capabilities and technological constraints.

Throughout the process, we adjusted our testing methods based on our client’s actual practices. This allowed us to propose realistic, relevant solutions that aligned with the client’s compliance objectives.

Additionally, having our experienced team members directly involved in meetings and collaborative sessions helped build a positive relationship with the client, not to mention enhanced the quality of our work.

The results

Our involvement enabled the client to gain a more comprehensive and structured view of their operations. By taking on the SOC project, we helped them identify additional risks that hadn’t been highlighted initially, allowing us to pinpoint compliance issues.

We also enabled the client’s teams to better understand their internal processes. Rather than drawing upon the same resources for different audits, our integrated method has streamlined those efforts. Now, they’ve reduced time spent on analysis and validations, as well as cut down on any associated costs.

Lastly, our proactive approach and ability to adapt to our client’s unique needs have strengthened the professional relationship. As a result of the trust both parties established over the course of this project, the client expressed their desire and intention to extend the partnership. The client expressed their intention to extend the collaboration, demonstrating the trust established throughout the task.