Celonis & Deloitte launch app to automate SOX checks

Celonis and Deloitte have launched an application to automate Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and internal controls for organisations that still rely on manual checks to meet financial reporting requirements.

Called the Celonis SOX and Internal Controls Manager by Deloitte, the tool uses process intelligence to replace sample-based testing with continuous monitoring of transactional data from multiple systems. It is designed for teams in Finance, Controlling, Internal Audit and Procurement that manage compliance and risk across business processes.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was introduced in the US after a series of accounting scandals and imposed strict rules on the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures. Its reach extends beyond US groups to foreign companies listed on US exchanges and their subsidiaries, leaving many multinational businesses subject to its requirements.

Compliance has often depended on manual controls and periodic reviews, an approach that can be slow and prone to gaps. The new application is intended to identify breaches earlier by combining operational and financial data and checking for violations in real time.

A global pharmaceutical company has already used the software across Purchase-to-Pay, Order-to-Cash and Record-to-Report processes. According to Celonis and Deloitte, it automated more than 100 controls, reduced its cost of control by 10% in the first implementation wave and sped up month-end closing.

Manual burden

The software is intended to reduce the manual work involved in internal controls while giving audit and compliance teams a single view of issues, from transaction level to global process owners. It also includes workflow tools that let users communicate and resolve detected violations within the application.

That reflects a broader shift in corporate controls from periodic, sample-based reviews to more automated testing. For finance leaders and auditors, the change is significant because executives can face personal accountability for financial reporting failures under the Sarbanes-Oxley framework.

"Having been an auditee myself, I've seen firsthand how traditional risk management tools often miss the operational context and the timeliness that really matters," said Diederick Badon Ghijben, Customer Transformation Advisor at Celonis.

"By infusing process intelligence into the audit workflow, we help organisations turn compliance from a reactive hurdle into a proactive engine for operational excellence. We are proud to have developed this solution alongside Deloitte, a leader in this domain," Ghijben said.

Deloitte Denmark worked with Celonis to develop the tool. It positioned it as a way for clients to move away from fragmented control processes that depend on manual review and delayed reporting.

"Internal controls have traditionally been a manual, fragmented process, bogged down by a lack of real-time data transparency," said Daniel Jørgensen, Partner at Deloitte Denmark.

"By building this solution on the Celonis platform, we are enabling organisations to shift from traditional sample-based testing to data-driven controls management, allowing them to ensure fast ROI and increased risk reduction," Jørgensen said.

The launch adds another product to the Celonis Platform Apps Program, which offers pre-built software from partners on the company's Process Intelligence platform. The new compliance application extends that model into financial controls and audit work, where companies are under pressure to show stronger oversight with less manual effort.