Streamlining a challenging process

Over 100 internal staff at FTSE 100 company Kingfisher plc are now collaborating on a centralised system to verify critical market disclosures across the business, following the implementation of document review and verification software Atticus. 

Deputy Company Secretary Daniel Rose explained that, before adopting Atticus, their team grappled with a time-consuming and challenging process when it came to fact-checking crucial documents. This included the company’s annual report, responsible business report, and results announcements and presentations.

“Previously, our verification processes required Word Documents to be divided into separate sections for reviewers to assess content and provide confirmation through SharePoint. Excel was also used to coordinate the verification of the annual report,” Daniel said.  

“Both of these methods proved to be time-consuming for everyone involved and posed challenges when dealing with new versions and content changes.”

Daniel expressed his satisfaction with the ease of implementing Atticus, noting, “The Atticus team had us up and running swiftly, and the addition of single sign-on has simplified the process of onboarding reviewers from various departments.”

The Atticus advantage

Three key benefits of verifying with Atticus immediately stood out to the Kingfisher team:

• efficient document tagging: the ability to tag documents quickly.
• seamless annotation transfer: the capability to automatically transfer verification notes between new versions.
• centralised repository: a repository for verified documents and supporting materials.

“The ability to manage multiple versions through verification has significantly de-risked the process while also reducing the time spent on verification by both Group Secretariat and verifiers themselves,” Daniel explained. 

Integration across Kingfisher

Atticus has found extensive use within Kingfisher, with over 100 individuals utilising the software across the company’s group functions and retail banners. 

Daniel also highlighted that “Executives and Board Members receive a summary of the output as part of our sign-off process.”

“We are also witnessing interest from other areas of the business, exploring the advantages of the software and how we can expand its usage across the company.”