Ubisoft 2007 Annual Report Download - page 154

UBISOFT • FINANCIAL REPORT 2008
internal control policy and implement a framework
designed to improve the visibility at all levels of opera-
tional and financial practices. It analyses risks and makes
recommendations regarding internal controls.
Clear goals and responsibilities
In order to enable the various operational teams to achieve
their goals, operational and banking authorizations, which
may be temporary or permanent, are established. They
are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect any changes
in the role and responsibilities. Senior Management
defines the applicable delegations rules, which are then
declined in the subsidiaries.
Consequently, at its own level, each major subsidiary has
local internal control procedures (delegation of bank sig-
ning authority, verification of day-to-day transactions,
segregation of duties between the signatory and the per-
son preparing the payment in order to provide effective
fraud prevention, etc.).
Similarly, the budgetary goals are defined annually by
Senior Management and monitored in each subsidiary by
the accounting and finance teams. The financial control
teams are responsible for monitoring the performance of
the activity: at subsidiary level, these teams provide the
relevant costs analysis to the operational managers so as
to enable them to take the adequate management deci-
sions. This information is periodically reported, in a stan-
dardized format and consolidated by the head office teams,
which analyze the differences between objectives and
actual performance.
Human resources policy
The human resources policy is a key element to the inter-
nal control system and its effectiveness. The human
resources teams in the subsidiaries are responsible for
establishing and implementing the policy, programs and
systems required to meet the recruitment goals set at
Group level, whilst ensuring the development of the
potential and skills of all employees.
These teams are also responsible for ensuring compliance
with local regulatory rules and applying the Group’s per-
formance management policies, through regular
appraisal, appropriate training, stock options or employees
stock purchase plans etc. These policies aim to improve
collective and individual performance.
Adapted systems and operating procedures
The IT teams, reporting to the Information Systems
Department, are responsible for providing the teams with
systems that are adapted to their business activities.
Together with the operational and functional teams, they
decide on the information systems required to produce
information and to ensure that transactions are securely
managed. The range of solutions used within the Group is
wide combines purchased software and in-house developed
systems. These solutions will evolve in order to take into
account the growing needs in managing and analyzing
information data.
In order to meet an increasing need for flexibility, security
specialists are now systematically involved in the architec-
ture and solution studies carried out within the ISD. For
example, these studies have led to the development and
deployment of a secure WIFI system for several demanding
sites, or the revamping and standardization of the remote
access system with secured authentication solutions (RSA
& Securit), allowing many employees to connect and work
remotely.
Whilst meeting internal needs, the Security Department is
working on the implementation of policies and procedures
to comply with legislation, such as the introduction of IT
charters in France and Canada, and on speeding up the
secure connection procedures of external partners to the
network.
Similar work on continuous improvement and documenta-
tion is being carried out by all the subsidiaries and teams,
especially by identifying the internal procedures that are
adapted to the business activities and organizations. In par-
ticular, the functional departments are responsible for
regularly reviewing and updating the Group procedures
and guaranteeing their utilization locally. These proce-
dures are made available to the relevant teams through
collaborative tools developed by the Group.
These departments are thus actively involved in the work
carried out by the Internal Audit Department to raise
awareness and mobilize management and all operational
managers on internal control.
The procedures relating to the production of accounting
and financial information are detailed in part 6.2.3.
6.2.2.2 Internal publication of information
To effectively communicate on the strategic goals and to
provide the teams with the means of carrying out their
responsibilities, the Company encourages the sharing of
information via numerous initiatives using the collabora-
tive tools.
In addition to local information meetings and an organized
internal communications network, a portal accessible to all
employees since 2007 is providing a permanent gateway to
all information on the Group, the market and any market
developments and too many internal websites.
These internal sites facilitate knowledge sharing and dis-
cussions, for all business activities, for example:
Operational: workspaces for sharing and providing inter-
site information on projects, developments, studies and
analyses.
IT: a shared database where can be downloaded func-
tional and technical documentation on the applications
and IT departments projects.
Security: roll-out of a forum that lists and details all the
security measures at the various sites, the “security ca-
talogue”, in order to improve knowledge sharing and
standardization of the security levels across Ubisoft’s
various offices.
Accounting, finance and management control: a shared
database, accessible to all relevant employees, providing