In recent years, FAAS has been involved in a variety of projects for corporate and not-for-profit clients. A sample of these projects is provided below:

CLIENT:            International Mining Company

PROJECT:         Sarbanes-Oxley Readiness and Support Services 

This mining organization, headquartered in Toronto, is involved in the acquisition, exploration and development of mining interests. The company has operations in North America, Central & South America and Africa.

The company is impacted by Sarbanes-Oxley legislation in the US and by National Instrument 52-109 in Canada. The company engaged FAAS to provide project direction, advice and support in preparing for, and subsequently complying with, the relevant regulations.

FAAS has assisted the company in various aspects of its compliance program, including:

¤       Conducting a full scoping exercise to determine the business units that are "in-scope" for purposes of compliance and the business processes and activities that need to be covered at each unit;

¤       Conducting training and briefing sessions with executives and staff of the various operating locations to discuss compliance requirements, plan documentation activities at the various sites and review the status of progress;

¤       Identifying the key risks that could affect financial reporting;

¤       Identifying and documenting process-level and entity-level controls (and related control objectives) that exist to mitigate and manage the identified risks;

¤       Identifying and documenting relevant IT general controls and IT application controls;

¤       Linking the identified control objectives and control activities to the relevant financial statement assertions and the appropriate elements of the COSO framework;

¤       Reviewing the results of process documentation;

¤       Populating the company's controls repository (database) with the information gathered;

¤       Developing guidelines and templates for testing the effectiveness of the controls identified;

¤       Developing a sub-certification program to appropriately involve executives throughout the organization in the compliance program; and

¤       Testing controls on an ongoing basis.

CLIENT:           Privately-held Mining Exploration Company

PROJECT:         CFO / Controllership Support Services Leading to Initial Public Offering

This newly-formed, privately-held Canadian mining company was engaged in acquiring and developing mining interests in Canada and West Africa.  The company's medium term strategy included an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Canadian equity market(s).

FAAS assisted the company in selecting and implementing appropriate accounting software and reporting systems at it Canadian and foreign sites. FAAS also supported the company in operating the systems and generating periodic financial and management reports. Additionally, in liaison with the company's legal advisors and underwriters, FAAS completed all of the financial reporting and related components of the company's prospectus, leading to a successful initial public offering (IPO). 

 


CLIENT:           International Development Organization

PROJECT:         Donor Management System Selection


This international development agency, engaged in projects in East Africa, South and Central Asia, sought to replace its legacy donor management system at its offices in Ottawa with a new, integrated, scalable donor and financial management system.

FAAS worked with the organization to review its strategic objectives and confirm its functional, technical and business / support requirements. Thereafter, FAAS developed a tender document which was used as the basis for requesting and evaluating proposals from potential vendors.

FAAS also provided support in reviewing and assessing the tenders received, and advising the client on the issues to be further negotiated with potential vendors. Comments were also provided on the structuring of final (formal) contract documents, as well as the key project risks to be managed.

CLIENT:            Packaging Products Company

PROJECT:         Compliance with IT Requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley

This manufacturer of packaging products for the Canadian and US markets operates about a dozen manufacturing facilities in Canada and the US. The company is impacted by Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) legislation in the US and engaged FAAS to help it prepare for complying with the IT requirements of SOX.
 

The company runs a number of core ERP applications at a central (IT) processing location in Toronto, accessed by its various sites through a corporate wide area network (WAN). Using the framework developed by the IT Governance Institute (ITGI), the FAAS team worked with company personnel in completing the following tasks: 

¤       Confirming the IT environment(s) and applications(s) that fall within SOX scope;

¤       Documenting the organization's IT management processes in the following areas: 

·       IT Operations

·       IT Access and Security

·       IT Systems Development

·       IT Change Management

¤       Completing the required general computer controls documentation, including the assessment of IT risks, the identification of control objectives and activities, the design of control tests and the mapping of the identified controls to the relevant elements of the COSO framework;

¤       Completing the required application controls documentation for the main ERP system. The following application modules were covered:

§         Purchasing / Expenditure

§         Revenue

§         Inventory Management / Production

§         Payroll

¤       Developing an IT Entity-level controls questionnaire to help in the identification and evaluation of IT controls at the entity level.

CLIENT:            International Gold Mining Company

PROJECT:         CEO / CFO Compliance Services in Preparation for Public Listing 

As part of its preparations for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Toronto Stock Exchange, this mining company engaged FAAS to help it complete the steps necessary to comply with the NI 52-109 governance requirements applicable to publicly traded companies.

FAAS assisted and guided the company through all aspects of designing and documenting its workflows, policies and internal controls at it head office in Toronto and its operating mine sites in Southern Africa. The company subsequently achieved a successful listing on the TSX and FAAS has since provided further support in helping the company test the effectiveness of its controls on an ongoing basis.

 


CLIENT:            International Not-for-Profit Organization

PROJECT:         Documentation of IT Systems and Development of IT Management and

Control Procedures

This international non-profit agency sought the assistance of Fonderson Accounting and Advisory Services in:

¤       Conducting a comprehensive inventory of its IT systems and infrastructure;

¤       Developing and documenting IT control policies, standards and benchmarks to guide the organization's IT operations; and

¤       Developing guidelines that would assist the organization in system recovery and continuity, in the event of an unplanned disruption.

¤       IT Change Management.

FAAS produced a complete systems inventory (including layouts and diagrams) for the organization, covering hardware, systems software, application software and communications infrastructure.

FAAS also developed a set of relevant IT policies covering:

¤       Management of the IT Environment;

¤       IT Operations;

¤       IT Access and Security; and

¤       IT Change Management.

Finally, FAAS developed a framework to guide IT recovery activities in the event of a loss of systems. The framework covered:

¤       A business impact analysis of key systems;

¤       An assessment of failure risks (potential points of failure); and

¤       A development of recovery strategies, enablers and plans to address each failure risk.

CLIENT:            Mining Development Company

PROJECT:         CEO / CFO Compliance Project 

This mining organization trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE AMEX Equities Exchange, and is impacted by NI 52-109 in Canada and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the US. The company owns mining development properties in Canada, the US and Mexico.

FAAS assisted the company through its entire compliance-readiness effort, providing guidance and hands-on support in the following areas:

¤       Project planning and scoping

¤       Process documentation covering Internal Control over Financial Reporting and Disclosure Controls and Procedures

¤       Development of Testing Matrices to evaluate key controls in each relevant business process.

CLIENT:            Base Metal Development Company

PROJECT:         CEO / CFO Compliance Project 

This TSX-listed company is developing base metal mining properties in Europe. In preparing for compliance with the requirements of NI 52-109, FAAS worked with the company in:

¤       Planning its compliance project;

¤       Documenting controls at both its European and Canadian offices; and

¤       Designing tests to evaluate the effectiveness of those controls

Thoughtful Analysis  ® Balanced Objectivity  ® Proven Competence