HLB HAMT

Internal Audit Management UAE

Challenge

Lack of visibility on financials and unexpected drops in results due to old stocks and sticky receivables

Work done and Impact
Root cause analysis was done. Primary reasons were lack of strong internal reviews and weak provisioning processes followed for stock and receivables. The existing provisioning processes for both debtors and stock were not aligned to reality. The age of the receivable was not adequately scrutinized and provision for stocks were not aligned to realizable discounted prices.

Action / Impact:

More realistic provisioning criteria were applied and a one-time hit in numbers was consciously taken. Related KPIs were also made and integrated with performance reviews. Subsequently, this resulted in greater internal sensitization among operating teams and also lesser surprises.

Internal Audit Services in UAE

Challenge
No practice of periodic evaluation of suppliers’ performance.

Work done and Impact
Ensured the implementation of an objective supplier evaluation process

Action / Impact:

Were able to understand that there was a need to replace some suppliers and balance purchases across others; about 6 new suppliers were identified resulting in improved costs, lead times and QC compliance

Challenge
Poor stock controls and inadequate review of goods on the production floor

Work done and Impact
In-depth analysis of stock was done across different stages of production – Raw Material  / Work In Progress / Finished Goods

Action / Impact:

Reduction in the value of items in the WIP warehouse by approx. 33% over a 6-month period without loss in production output

Organizational Consultancy UAE

Challenge

• The company’s owners were unable to get the desired results from the CEO who was long associated with the company externally but was in the CEO role only for a short period
• There were a few senior employees who were not performing, but the owners could not really determine the causes
• Employees at lower levels were lacking motivation

Work done and Impact

• We conducted detailed meetings with the Management and key employees across different levels to understand their expectations and concerns.
• We analyzed various internal processes and the authority delegation followed, and important business metrics.
• Based on the above, we were able to recommend an effective new structure that eliminated the need for a few employees who were actually a hindrance to the system
• The company obtained savings in costs, the owners found it easier to implement their plans and the employees down the line were more motivated and able to work more productively
   

Due Diligence in UAE
 

Challenge
Our client was evaluating an attractive business proposition to invest in a specialized product trading and technical services provider in the UAE. The client had industry knowledge and had a favorable view of the target company but wanted to determine the right transaction price for the acquisition.

Work done and Impact
Our team of internal auditors and analysts conducted a detailed due diligence of the target company. This include in-depths analysis of their numbers as well as review of internal systems and controls

Action / Impact:

Were able to identify some key issues such as excessive dependencies of some customers and a steady marginal decline in revenue from their more profitable products.

There were also some accounting practices relating to provisions were incorrectly followed, as also some intercompany loans which were irregular.

The report helped our client to assess the projected business better to make a more informed valuation decision. They were also able to address compliance issues by making process changes after they completed the acquisition

Organizational Consultancy in UAE

Challenge

• The company ‘s Finance department was unable to meet requirements of user departments, and was perceived to be too slow, despite a team of 50 employees at the HO and about 100 employees in their branches
• The Board felt that this department’s functioning would be a hindrance for the company’s growth plans

Work done and Impact

• Analyzed the department structure, workflows and processes – in line with the set growth objectives
• Recommended realignment of workflows, and decentralization of the Finance department.
• Helped to redefine the Authority Matrix and introduced review systems to ensure that the decentralized structure works effectively.
• Identified and recommended areas of automation which enabled savings in manpower costs yet improved efficiency and controls

Bank Reconciliations

Regardless of their size or location, most financial organizations manually match transactions and submit journals to complete bank reconciliations. Problems with bank reconciliation are not influenced by the size of the organization, yet numerous mid-sized businesses have trouble balancing their books. Reconciliation is challenging for them mostly because of the variety of accounts and institutions they work with, as well as the different payment methods and time zones. The same holds true for the bills. Numerous human errors are caused by the volume of received purchase orders and the number of entries in each order that need to be reconciled.

The Client:- The client is a financial institution based in Dubai, UAE

Challenges Faced
For our client, the clients and cash flows are complex & tedious as it is from various sources and banks. The staff had to spend longer work hours on the manual reconciliation, which was a tedious, time-consuming, monotonous task. It was also prone to human errors creeping in during the manual entry during the reconciliation process. Errors such as date & time discrepancies, and duplicate entries were also a huge issue, this of course led to delays in work and in one case almost led to a loss of reputation with a client. There were also multiple transactions to handle on a single invoice, which led to further delays.

What We Offered
Finding information about the funds received and spent to balance the final figures is made possible by automating reconciliation. By comparing payment information with bank data, RPA helps to automate this procedure. The accounts are said to be reconciled if the details line up. When there are differences in the data, RPA sends the records back for additional verification.

These are the major features of the project we did for the client:

• Retrieval of Bank statements: Automation to create reports and download bank statements, and to securely log into your online banking platform.
• Transaction reconciliation: The bots sign into your desktop or web-based ERP/POS and compare the information in the bank/credit card statements to the transactions in your ERP/POS.
• Verify transactions: A spreadsheet’s Y/N designation can be used to view the status of reconciliation.
• Share reconciliation report: Email a reconciliation report to your accounting team each day, marking any unreconciled transactions as needing further investigation.

How the Client Benefitted
Month-end reporting in real time

• The accounting team can promptly present correct financial statements to the firm’s leadership by using automated bank reconciliation rather than the traditional procedure, which can take an average company 12–24 days to complete.

94% less time spent on human work

• Manual bank reconciliation can take up to three hours of an employee’s time per day if it is done every day. The employee will only need to spend ten minutes examining unposted transactions thanks to automation.