Virtual stock-taking as a new normal: Magnetic MRO brings “digital” to the audit process

Magnetic MRO, a Total Technical Care and asset management organization, together with teams of auditors from PwC as well as from company's co-owners, Guangzhou Hangxin Aviation Technology, has trialled unconventional stock-taking method and performed their first virtual stock-taking.

As due to the recent pandemic travel and hangars visits are temporarily suspended, it has an effect on various business units and processes: from maintenance to financial operations and stocking – for the last year, we all have been navigating the lockdowns and looking for creative solutions even for the tasks we previously considered to be mundane. Stock-taking, on a regular basis, would be done with the team of external auditors visiting the hangar and performing checks on the existing inventory. However, when visits are limited, inventory check done online can be the way around. In this case, both teams of auditors have been sampling certain inventory articles and the whole process, conducted and recorded for future references via Microsoft Teams, which in total took around 4 hours. "Online stock-taking is, indeed, a unique process, and for us all it has been a challenge – and also the opportunity to perform it in the current setting and gain this experience. My goal was to meet expectations of both auditors' teams, as well as to gain efficiency in the process by combining two separate stock-taking into one, especially when auditors are in different timezones across the world. I am glad our partners are open-minded and also willing to adapt processes to the situation – together, we can navigate any challenges," shared Jekaterina Piskunova, Business Controller at Magnetic MRO. "For us, it was a totally new experience to participate in a new reality stock-count. The stock-count was well organized, and the requirements of both auditors were taken into account. Hopefully, we don't have to get used to the new reality, but we assured that good cooperation would help us adapt to any situation," expressed Iiris Embrich, PwC Senior Associate. Fiona Huang, Investment Manager from Guangzhou Hangxin Aviation Technology Co., LTD, also added: “The process is efficient and remarkable: through the virtual stock-taking, a new creative form, operation and process under the pandemic situation can still run its course!”