Taking the complexity out of audit
Operating in more than 125 countries globally, VF Corporation, one of the world’s largest apparel companies, believes that having one auditor auditing all its entities is key to efficiency and getting it right. “Within our global presence, we’re active in most European countries. PwC does the group audit for us as well as the statutory audits of our various affiliates,” explains Patrick Willems, Vice President, Financial Controller (EMEA) & Global Business Integration, VF Corporation. He adds, “We’re an international company so all these affiliates are linked together. It’s crucial that we have the same auditor doing the review of all these entities because everything hangs together. If you have to do that with different parties, it gets overcomplicated.”
Coordinating across borders
That means that the 123-year old representative of brands such as The North Face, Timberland, Dickies, Vans and more needs to work with an equally international supplier of assurance services. That’s an important reason that the company opts to work with PwC. “We operate a financial shared service centre in Antwerp for VF Corporation where we do the accounting for many of our European affiliates. It’s important that all these activities are coordinated. We coordinate within our company network and PwC does the same with the European PwC network. It’s that combination, that match, that makes it a success and that allows us together to report in a timely manner,” he enthuses.
Time is of the essence
Our coordination between all PwC offices around Europe to make sure that the audits of all VF Corporation entities that we support all tie together and connect, and that in a timely way, is one of the benefits that the client truly appreciates. “We work in a collaborative way to achieve the same objective at the end of the day; to make sure that VF Corporation and the work we do is correct and that we report in a timely manner to not only our group, but also to the relevant authorities in the countries in Europe,” Patrick Willems says.
“It’s not because PwC’s an independent auditor and has to do its work correctly and independently that you can’t work together in a friendly and constructive way.”
Counting on open communication
Open communication between the two parties is also key. Patrick Willems notes, “For PwC to do its review properly, and for us to benefit, we need to be transparent towards each other. We need to have open communication. No surprises, that’s the philosophy on both sides. It can only work like that.” PwC has been VF Corporation’s auditor for more than 25 years. One reason behind the longevity of the mandate is the correlation between the values of the two firms. “I believe that the values of VF Corporation and PwC match very well. If not, it would be difficult to work together for so long. We have a no nonsense approach. We communicate openly and frankly, always in a constructive way,” Patrick Willems says. But, he adds, “We also try to make a nice working relationship. It’s not because PwC’s an independent auditor and has to do its work correctly and independently that you can’t work together in a friendly and constructive way.”
Rapid response adds value
And VF Corporation feels truly valued as a PwC client. “Over all the years and with all the countries involved, it can happen, rarely, but it can happen, that something doesn’t work as we’d like it to in a certain country or a specific area. One call to the PwC Partner is enough for them to intervene and to try to fix the problem that exists, and vice versa of course. That’s the only way we can make this work and we can be successful together,” Patrick Willems concludes.
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