Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) controls protect stakeholder interests, minimize organizational risk, improve decision-making and instill confidence in outside lenders and investors. Collectively, the term refers to a company’ strategy for handling interdependencies among corporate governance policies, enterprise risk management programs and both regulatory and corporate compliance.
Coined in 2007 by nonprofit think tank Open Compliance and Ethics Group, GRC controls have since become crucial for companies that use them to protect their interests, minimize financial losses and reduce operational disruptions.
“As businesses grow increasingly complex, they need a way to effectively identify and manage key activities in the organization,” TechTarget points out. “GRC achieves this by breaking down the traditional barriers between business units, requiring them to work collaboratively to achieve the company’s strategic goals.”
As GRC controls have evolved, compliance has become more challenging. Keeping up with changing regulations, finding experienced personnel to manage GRC and poor data visibility across the organization can all impede even the best-laid compliance plans. These and other challenges aside, the benefits of effective GRC compliance will outweigh the risks.
With the right combination of tools, processes and expertise, organizations can effectively mitigate risks, improve efficiency and begin to reap the many rewards of a solid governance, risk and compliance program. For example, CIO says that a well-planned GRC strategy leads to improved decision-making, more optimal IT investments, elimination of silos and reduced fragmentation among divisions and departments.
NetSuite Supercharges your GRC Framework
As a leading cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, NetSuite provides a comprehensive suite of GRC controls that help companies effectively manage compliance processes and reduce operational and financial risk.
NetSuite’s GRC capabilities help companies establish the right controls to meet risk objectives, and then monitor and report on the effectiveness of those controls. Built-in processes handle increasingly complex regulatory, operational and compliance challenges as companies grow, and automation allows for greater efficiency, reduces risk and supports continuous financial integrity.
Built for the cloud and equipped with features to secure sensitive data, NetSuite is externally audited to SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 (SSAE18 and ISAE 3402) standards as well as ISO 27001 and 27018, PCI DSS and PA DSS. These high security standards support a built-in, sustainable GRC process that anticipates and proactively manages risk on an ongoing basis. Here are some of the key NetSuite GRC features that ScaleNorth helps companies leverage:
Automated controls
NetSuite includes a host of extensible, automated controls and powerful search and reporting capabilities. You can readily automate and tailor the ERP with custom preventative and detective controls using workflows, SuiteScripts, saved search alerts and custom fields. Automating these processes minimizes or even eliminates labor-intensive and error-prone back-end reviews.
Audit trails
NetSuite offers role-based security, user access management and authentication models that are easy to understand, manage and audit. For example, it provides robust, always-on audit trails for configuration, customization, administrative and master data changes. This helps finance leaders and auditors quickly investigate activity related to security, controls or financial statements.
Third-party audit reports
Along with its superior compliance foundation and supporting independent reports and certificates, NetSuite partners like ScaleNorth extend and deepen the ERP’s native functionality. That means you can confidently anticipate and address changes in security, segregation of duties and configuration while automating control processes.
Security monitoring
The ERP uses a number of overlapping technologies and processes to tightly control access to its networks and applications. Unauthorized data center access attempts are blocked, for example, and unauthorized connection attempts are logged and investigated.
Audit and compliance reporting
Many tax auditors are using electronic audits and the ERP supports audit file formats for SAF-T (all OECD countries), GDPdU (Germany) and IAF for Singapore, among others. “With NetSuite, you get an always-on audit trail, built-in analytics, access logs and workflow management,” the company says. “The ability to drill down — from summary reports to underlying transaction details — provides transparency so companies can demonstrate ongoing compliance with local statutory and regulatory requirements.”
Master data security
NetSuite provides a host of features designed to secure master data, including:
• Roles, permissions and restrictions
• Groups and audiences
• Scripts and workflows
• Multifactor authentication
• IP-address restrictions
• Field-level security
• More
Internal Controls Made Easy with NetSuite
As GRC becomes a bigger concern for companies of all sizes and across most industries, organizations need robust, unified technology platforms that can help them manage these complexities. NetSuite stands out as one of the best options for companies that are grappling with a heightened regulatory landscape, new cybersecurity threats and the need for better transparency for investors, lenders and other stakeholders.
“Of course, the act of buying a software solution doesn’t guarantee compliance. It’s always your role to establish governance, analyze risk and determine the appropriate level of controls,” says NetSuite “Then follow through by monitoring and reporting on the effectiveness of the controls. With NetSuite, you have the building blocks to build a solid foundation for crucial compliance programs.”
As a premier NetSuite Solution Provider and outsourced accounting firm, ScaleNorth is well-positioned to get NetSuite stood up and optimized for your GRC efforts. To learn more, contact ScaleNorth today.