Reference story Grant Thornton International

A major efficiency gain thanks to the digital signature.

• 30,000 audit reports per year
• d.velop fulfils all special requirements
• Reduced postage costs and labour costs for printing and packaging the reports

Grant Thornton International

Grant Thornton is renowned word-wide for its technical expertise an in-depth understanding of business models, the industry and the specific requirements of their respective clients: For Grant Thornton’s employees, these are the linchpin of their work.

The auditing firm has been helping its clients to realise their business goals since 1958. With around 1500 employees at eleven locations in Germany, a lot of paper is generated: “We used to print around 30,000 audit reports a year, totalling up to three million pages,” explains Philipp Wiesauer, Head of Strategic Digital Projects.

In an ever-changing business landscape, modern IT provides efficient and accurate support for auditors in their work. Depending on the industry, multiple regulations, laws and associated business compliance rules are required to be adopted. Even with computers, this is still a demanding profession. It is therefore understandable that an audit report can quickly become hundreds of pages long.

Electronic signature: legally valid, secure, easy to use

An effort that at first glance seems superfluous in the information age. But only at first glance. A report like this can be easily created, approved and authorised on a computer. The signature is another matter — after all, it has to be legally valid, secure and easy to use. Conventional word processing programmes quickly reach their limits.

“The creation and approval of the reports was still done electronically, but then the process was broken,” explains Philipp Wiesauer: ’The signature.’ This means printing out reports, signing them or sending them via internal logistics to those inspectors who need to sign them. A lot of small-scale work, high paper consumption.

Some reports had to be signed up to four times. This resulted in up to 120,000 signatures per year at Grant Thornton. This generates costs, not only for paper and logistics, but also in terms of working hours: unpacking the report, finding the right place, sending the signed version again… especially when employees in the higher salary brackets are involved, there are significant personnel costs.

In 2021, this no longer seemed logical, especially as some of Grant Thornton’s clients insisted on electronic documents throughout, including signatures. Large operators of energy networks, for example.

Why d.velop prevailed against other providers of electronic signatures

Grant Thornton decided to test a solution for an electronic signature. This solution used key cards and readers to prove identity. However, the process was lengthy and complicated, and ordering the key cards was cumbersome. A company-wide installation seemed too cumbersome and cost-intensive.

Another alternative was: d.velop sign. As Grant Thornton had already been using d.velop documents for a number of years, to achive e-mails. “Among the many providers of electronic signatures, d.velop stood out,” recalls Philipp Wiesauer. d.velop made it their business to understand our problem and learn what professional  regulations and business rules had to be observed. 

Grant Thornton worked closely with the d.velop team to implement months working with d.velop sign. “A pleasant process,” says Philipp Wiesauer. “We were able to fulfil all the special requirements with d.velop. It was constructive and productive.” For example, WKGT has to prove to supervisory authorities that the company retains complete sovereignty over its data — especially when it purchases IT solutions.

Electronic signature via Internet browser

d.velop sign does not require key cards, readers or other hardware. The software runs in an Internet browser such as Chrome or Firefox and does not need to be installed on a PC or Mac. Audit reports and other documents can be uploaded as PDFs and sent to other employees in a customisable process.

As WKGT already uses d.3one, the company can use the system as an identity provider to legitimise the signature. d.3one in turn relies on the Windows user ID. Identification takes place in co-operation with d.3one, which in turn relies on the Windows user ID. The setup of d.velop sign was completed in a few days, and the first WKGT employees were able to use d.velop sign at the beginning of 2021.

Following training, around 40 users from the Audit & Assurance department used the solution as part of the pilot project. In a second expansion phase, WKGT connected the entire Audit and Assurance department. The solution will also be used across other business areas of the company.

We used to have to scan the audit reports and file them manually. Today, I drag the document into the document management system once it has been signed electronically and everything is done. We save material, working time and logistics costs.

Philipp Wiesauer
Director Strategic Digital Projects
Grant Thornton International

Postage costs are also reduced, as is the labour involved in printing and packaging the reports. A not insignificant aspect: the environment is also protected thanks to the lower paper consumption.

“The business case worked out early on, the amortisation period was one year,” Philipp Wiesauer sums up, “implementation was easy, everything was up and running in a few days purely from the IT side. The logistics involved in the audit reports alone have shrunk to a fraction of what they were. It’s a huge efficiency gain.”