Latest news - 4 items
Audit and the Life Science and Healthcare Sector
How we can help you
Because the need for audit services can span so many aspects of the healthcare and life science sector, PwC looks to partner with its client companies. This way, we can help you put in place the processes required to streamline further audit requirements.
We can also help futureproof your reporting systems to streamline future auditing processes. Indeed, given the increasing shift to digitalisation in all processes, you will have the opportunity to tap into PwC’s expertise to ensure your systems are audit ready.
There can be many situations where audit is required in the life science and healthcare sector, over and above the verifying annual accounts. For example:
Companies applying for hospital tenders must be able to demonstrate - as part of the tender process - their financial viability through an audited submission.
Smaller biotech companies seeking to expand and/or scale up their existing operations may require access to external sources of finance. To do so, the company will need audited financial data to engage with and reassure potential investors. Furthermore, if successful in raising capital, this will generate further audit requirements in the future.
For companies seeking to incentivise and/or retain key staff - for example by offering share options or bonuses – this will require their plans to be audit compliant.
How we operate
We make it our business to understand your business - what it does, how it functions and what it delivers. Perhaps most importantly, we will analyse the processes and controls that you have in place. This way, our audits will deliver the highest-quality outputs.
In order to fulfil its goal, it is essential that audit is an independent function. At PwC, we respect this demarcation, and maintain the strictest divisions between the audit function and other services.
Our audits can help identify and recommend areas for improvement, not simply your finances but also your control processes. This means that our insights into how you operate can allow you to benefit from other PwC services.
Contact us to find out how we can help you with any audit needs.
CMAAS: Capital Markets and Accounting Advisory Services
Accounting advisory services
PwC offers comprehensive solutions for all aspects of accounting and financial reporting. We provide expert advice on the proper application of IFRS and other GAAP (US GAAP, Belgian GAAP, etc.) and the practical implementation of financial reporting, leveraging digital.
IPO Support
We can act either as an advisor to management and owners or as an independent auditor, responsible for providing opinions and verifying financial information in the prospectus.
IPO advisory services
Our IPO services (or capital market transactions) are designed for assisting companies in preparing for an IPO and include:
- Assessing IPO readiness, focused on minimising the challenges inherent in IPOs
- Developing IFRS conversion and consolidation
- Preparing IFRS financial statements and disclosures
- Preparing the prospectus, including financial and pro forma information and working capital statement
- Providing an IPO project management office
- Choosing the right stock exchange
- Preparing for life as a public company
- Raising debt.
IPO readiness services
PwC’s readiness assessment uses a holistic framework to take an in-depth look at your organisation and its processes, systems and overall preparedness to operate as a public company. Our IPO readiness assessment will enable you to identify early and remediate key issues to ensure a smooth execution of your contemplated IPO and to enable you to become a successful listed company.
Cyber & Privacy
The Pharmaceuticals and Life Science and Healthcare sector are vital components of modern society. However, these sectors are constantly evolving and constantly facing new cyber challenges as a result.
Furthermore, both sectors are increasingly reliant on third-party suppliers and digitisation, creating a growing list of cyber concerns relating to supply chain attacks and third party breaches.
Cyberthreat actors have been seen targeting different entities in these sectors for a range of motivations, from financial gain to espionage-related intelligence gathering and collection and intellectual property theft.
This makes it essential that these organisations not only develop a secure environment, but also maintain an overview of the current threat landscape. In addition, they must develop the means to maximise the detection of threats and prepare to respond adequately to cyber incidents, to minimise any impact.
Cyber security is a board-level risk, and organisations should be prioritising it as a result.
We invite you to download the industry-specific findings of our latest Digital Trust Insights 2024 (DTI) report, which captures the view of business and IT leaders.
Risk, Control & Compliance
- Internal controls advisory
- Internal audit
Internal controls advisory
PwC takes a lean and pragmatic approach to implementing an internal control framework. The focus lies on helping clients achieve compliance while avoiding non- essential changes to their processes. This includes meetings to develop an understanding of your processes, followed by a fit-gap analysis against the internal control requirements. Based on this, we can support you in setting - or increasing - a minimum level of internal control, from a first internal control maturity level to a framework compliant to Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX).
We work with an experienced core team, who have gathered broad experience and expertise in supporting biotech and life science companies in implementing internal control frameworks as part of the SOX journey.
Internal audit
PwC can support with internal audit outsourcing or co-sourcing by using a data-enabled audit methodology and incorporating leading-edge technologies in our audit approach.
Outsourcing: PwC performs the work as the internal audit function, including reporting on internal audit activities to the audit committee and administrative reporting to a designated executive.
Co-sourcing: we use the client’s internal audit and/or PwC’s internal audit methodology combined as a reference and bring insights and leading practices forward.
We have a proven understanding of the health industry and have experience in industry specific audit topics / agendas including as HCP interaction, transparency reporting, gross-to-net and royalty audits.
Future Trends: PwC Thought Leadership
If you want to know more about PwC and how we view the future of healthcare, read our thought leadership contributions.
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