Workiva Simplifies SOX and Internal Controls for Dr Pepper Snapple

Workiva WK, a leading provider of solutions for enterprise productivity, announces that Dr Pepper Snapple Group DPS uses Wdesk to gain efficiencies, improve accountability and eliminate time lags in management reports related to internal controls over financial reporting as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).

Eddie Holt, SOX Compliance Manager for Dr Pepper Snapple, and his team replaced their legacy software with Wdesk because they needed a better way to track internal controls testing and quickly produce trusted reports.

"Being able to easily see which changes were made and who made them is one of the features that really sold us on Wdesk," Holt said, who called his former process with outdated software a "nightmare" for its manual, disconnected methods that included an internal control spreadsheet with 2,000 rows. "Before Wdesk, I never felt really sure if I would know if someone might have changed something."

Workiva's solution architects and customer success managers worked closely with Holt and his team to fully implement Wdesk in just a few weeks, surpassing Holt's expectation of several months.

Holt – who relies on internal audit teams and other compliance managers across the company to gather required information – now collaborates with colleagues in the same document at the same time. The narrative review process, which he says used to be slow and painful, is improved because everyone reviews and comments directly in Wdesk.

"Wdesk has cut out hours and hours of administrative work, allowing me to focus instead on evaluating potential deficiencies and monitoring accuracy," he said. "It's been a huge time savings for us."

Dr Pepper Snapple built a risk control matrix, a self-assessment library and a control library in Wdesk. Then, Holt and his team linked them with their test plans and used Wdesk dashboards to monitor and track progress. "It's the coolest thing to go in and change one control, and then it's changed all the way through," he said.

"Now that the dashboards are connected to our testing, I have real-time answers for where we are on percentage of completion," Holt said. That's particularly important when he's working on presentations for their Board's audit committee. His reports now reflect up-to-the-minute data, eliminating former information time lags of two to three weeks.

Dr Pepper Snapple also uses Wdesk to securely grant access to their external auditors so they can review data and linked sources with a full audit trail of changes. "The feedback from our auditors has been great," said Holt.

About Workiva

Workiva WK delivers Wdesk, an intuitive cloud platform that modernizes how people work within thousands of organizations, including over 70 percent of the FORTUNE 500^®. Wdesk is built upon a data management engine, offering controlled collaboration, data integration, granular permissions and a full audit trail. Wdesk helps mitigate risk, improves productivity and gives users confidence in their data-driven decisions. Workiva employs more than 1,200 people with offices in 16 cities. The company is headquartered in Ames, Iowa. For more information, visit workiva.com.

Claim not confirmed by FORTUNE or Time Inc. FORTUNE 500^® is a registered trademark of Time Inc. and is used under license. FORTUNE and Time Inc. are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of, Workiva Inc.

About Dr Pepper Snapple Group

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group DPS is a leading producer of flavored beverages in North America and the Caribbean. Our success is fueled by more than 50 brands that are synonymous with refreshment, fun and flavor. We have six of the top 10 non-cola soft drinks, and 13 of our 14 leading brands are No. 1 or No. 2 in their flavor categories. In addition to our flagship Dr. Pepper and Snapple brands, our portfolio includes 7UP, A&W, Canada Dry, Clamato, Crush, Hawaiian Punch, Mott's, Mr & Mrs T mixers, Peñafiel, Rose's, Schweppes, Squirt and Sunkist soda. To learn more about our iconic brands and Plano, Texas-based company, please visit https://www.drpeppersnapplegroup.com/ For our latest news and updates, follow us at www.Facebook.com/DrPepperSnapple or www.Twitter.com/DrPepperSnapple.

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