How Wärtsilä Eliminated Audit Guesswork with Complete Data Visibility

Making company-wide audit conclusions from tiny data samples

Traditional sampling methods couldn't provide complete visibility

Wärtsilä faced a classic internal audit dilemma: how do you understand enterprise-wide risks and compliance issues when you can only examine small random samples of transaction data? As a global leader in marine and energy technologies, Wärtsilä's operations span multiple geographies, business units, and complex processes—but their internal audits were limited to analyzing tiny fractions of the available data.

Traditional internal auditing methods, while valuable, couldn't provide the holistic visibility needed to understand what was really happening across Wärtsilä's global ERP system. Auditors were forced to extrapolate conclusions about company-wide issues from limited samples, creating uncertainty about the true scope and impact of potential problems.

Auditors were searching broadly instead of targeting real issues

The sampling approach meant auditors went into meetings with general questions, hoping to uncover issues through interviews and manual investigation. Without advance visibility into actual process data, they couldn't prepare specific, informed questions or focus their limited time on the most significant risk areas.

"Some points are now easier to look up in advance. So, when we meet a local purchasing manager, we already know what to ask – we come with more informed questions, we go more directly to the point," explains Tom Unnérus, VP of Internal Audit at Wärtsilä.

Limited evidence made collaboration difficult

Perhaps most frustrating was the challenge of providing concrete audit evidence to stakeholders. When findings were based on small samples, it was difficult to demonstrate the full impact of control gaps or inefficiencies, making it harder to get buy-in for improvements and creating adversarial rather than collaborative relationships with auditees.

Analyzing all transaction data instead of random samples with QPR ProcessAnalyzer

QPR ProcessAnalyzer, a process mining tool that transforms system transaction logs into clear visual process maps, enabled Wärtsilä's Internal Audit team to move from sample-based assumptions to complete data visibility. Instead of examining tiny fractions of their transaction data, they could now analyze all relevant information from their global ERP system.

From sampling to complete process visibility

The transformation began with connecting QPR ProcessAnalyzer to Wärtsilä's global ERP system, allowing auditors to examine all transactions rather than just random samples. This provided an end-to-end, process-oriented approach to understanding operations holistically across all geographies, business areas, and functional areas.

Influence Analysis reveals the "why" behind problems

One of QPR ProcessAnalyzer's most valuable features for Wärtsilä was Influence Analysis, which helps auditors pinpoint specific contributing factors that affect problems or inefficiencies. This capability enables auditors to move beyond identifying what happened to understanding why it happened.

"Influence analysis is one of the most practical features," notes Aurora Sunna, Advanced Audit Automation Analyst at Wärtsilä.

"Think like a thief" approach maintains audit independence

Importantly, Wärtsilä's Internal Audit team performs their own process analytics rather than relying on operational teams. While business units typically focus on efficiency and removing bottlenecks, auditors need to "think like a thief"—a common auditing term meaning they look for unusual patterns or control weaknesses that could indicate fraud or risk. Sometimes processes that move too quickly are actually more suspicious than slow ones, as they might indicate someone is bypassing approval steps.

This independent approach ensures that Internal Audit maintains its objectivity while gaining the analytical capabilities needed for modern risk assessment..

From assumptions to facts transforms audit effectiveness

Complete visibility eliminates guesswork

The most significant transformation was moving from extrapolation based on samples to complete visibility into all process data. Wärtsilä's auditors no longer need to make assumptions about company-wide issues—they can see exactly what's happening across all transactions, geographies, and business units.

This complete visibility enables auditors to identify risks that cut across the entire organization and assess the exact failure rates of controls, providing a much more accurate understanding of Wärtsilä's risk profile.

Informed questions replace vague probing

Audit sessions became dramatically more effective when auditors could prepare specific, data-driven questions in advance. Instead of general interviews hoping to uncover issues, auditors now arrive at meetings knowing exactly what to investigate.

"When we meet a local purchasing manager, we already know what to ask – we come with more informed questions, we go more directly to the point," explains Tom Unnérus.

Proactive risk identification across all operations

QPR ProcessAnalyzer enables auditors to proactively identify significant risk areas before audit sessions begin. Using Influence Analysis, they can focus valuable meeting time on the most critical issues while spending less time on areas where advance analysis doesn't raise concerns.

Concrete evidence enables collaboration

Perhaps the biggest change was in stakeholder relationships. Instead of adversarial discussions based on limited samples, audit conversations became collaborative problem-solving sessions supported by comprehensive evidence.

The Influence Analysis feature helps auditors explain not just what happened, but when and why it occurred, enabling constructive discussions about solutions rather than finger-pointing about problems.

Enhanced accuracy, efficiency, and collaboration

The data-driven approach delivered improvements across three key areas:

• Accuracy: More in-depth understanding of operations and risk profile across Wärtsilä's complex global organization
• Efficiency: Ability to focus on significant risk areas identified proactively, optimizing the use of limited audit session time
• Collaboration: Fact-based discussions that remove opinions and assumptions, creating more productive relationships with auditees

Quality audit evidence at auditors' fingertips

With QPR ProcessAnalyzer, providing audit evidence became effortless. Auditors can easily generate data extracts and visual evidence that help auditees understand and recognize issues, transforming the audit experience from defensive to collaborative.