Who should be the owner of CentinelBox?

This is a great question that we get more often than you expect.  Let’s see the different roles that own CentinelBox depending on the size and nature of the company. For most of our clients, finance owns CentinelBox, mainly when there is a thin line between finance and audit/compliance or when systems are more cloud-based (requiring a smaller IT footprint). Larger clients with an established audit function could move this attribute from finance to audit. Our larger customers tend to have a combination, being CentinelBox owned by finance and IT, and audit as a critical component.

Who should own CentinelBox in your company depends on many factors, but we recommend considering the below points:

• Budget: the most pragmatic approach to ownership is based on who pays CentinelBox; since this person has to renounce other expenses, they are the best person to own the tool and determine who should manage it and how it should be used.

• Usage: while the budget may be placed in finance or IT, internal audits may use CentinelBox more often; therefore, they should own the operations of the platform daily.

• Expertise: internal audit is a good option to own CentinelBox, given their expertise. However, when the systems are complex (like SAP), then it makes sense to consider system administrators or IT, as they may have the best idea of how to use our tools in the best way.

• Risk ownership: CentinelBox is a platform that helps to reduce risk; therefore, whoever owns that risk is probably the most likely candidate for ownership. For an ERP, that risk is owned by IT or finance, depending on the company’s hierarchy.

There is no right or wrong answer to who should own CentinelBox. Engineers and auditors developed CentinelBox for auditors to be accessible and easy to use but also technical enough for system administrators. 

In summary, it does not matter who owns CentinelBox. You must ensure your internal leadership understands the use and purpose to get the most out of it.