Technology risk for finance teams

Every close and every report a finance team produces depends on systems. The controls around those systems often belong to someone else in the company, so gaps tend to appear during a review instead of before it. Three are easy to miss.

Access that has outlived the job

People change roles and leave. Their access to ledgers, payment tools and report files should change with them. Compare the list of people who can use each system with the current staff list every quarter, and remove anyone who no longer needs it.

Changes nobody recorded

A changed report formula, a new import rule or an updated setting can alter figures without anyone deciding to. Ask who can make these changes, and whether each one is written down with the date and the reason.

Logs that nobody reads

Systems record who did what, but the record only helps when someone reviews it. Decide who looks at the logs for the finance systems, how often, and what they do when something looks wrong.

A simple first step

List the systems your finance team depends on. Next to each one, write who can use it, who can change it and who reviews it. Blank cells show you where to start.