Panini Group, established more than 50 years ago in Modena, Italy with subsidiaries throughout Europe, Latin America and the United States, is the world leader in the published collectable sector and the leading multi-national publisher of comics, children’s magazines, and manga in Europe and Latin America. The company has distribution channels in more than 110 countries and employs a staff of almost 1000. For more information visit www.paninigroup.com
THE CHALLENGE
Panini is headquartered in Italy, home to its financial and management accounting teams. Under Italian law, there are strict provisions for administrative liability of companies regarding crimes committed by a business representative. This is unsurprising, given the scale of the problem: bribery and corruption cost the Italian economy an estimated €60 billion per year. This area of law falls under Legislative Decree 231/2001.
Prior to 2012, individuals were liable under Italian law for mistakes made or illegal actions taken at an organisation. Things changed with the introduction of a new Anti-Corruption law, Law no. 190. In consequence, any act of bribery or corruption by any employee acting on behalf of the company could result in administrative liability to the company under that law. This meant that companies needed the correct processes in place to ensure that it had done everything it could to mitigate against such activities.
Panini previously managed its financial reconciliations in spreadsheets and relied on the teams informing the CFO that all actions had been completed. There was no simple way
for the CFO to ensure that all reconciliations had been completed, and that they were correct, without manually checking each one.
By tightening its controls environment and automating the reconciliation process, Panini could ensure that it complied with Law 231/2001.
