Contract Management, Governance & Compliance
Contracts as a factor for success
Regardless of whether companies are handling large projects, manufacturing industrial goods, or providing services, contracts are the basis for all business transactions – and thus for every euro spent or earned.
Actively managing and reviewing contracts using a system-based approach is a topic that has been garnering more attention from companies in recent years. There are various reasons for this. First of all, international business models have become increasingly complex. This has been compounded by new regulatory requirements that are often stricter – resulting in greater need to reduce risks. Last but not least, the realization has set in that a holistic approach to contract management can also yield monetary benefits.
“Improving contract management directly influences results and thus the success of projects and companies.”
PwC brings together experienced specialists, industry experts and innovative technologies to realize the potential of your contracts and enable you to actively use control capabilities for contract management.
What we offer
Solutions for all phases of contract management
Our PwC experts assist companies in achieving the greatest possible added value from contracts in every phase of their lifecycle.
Contract governance, compliance & risk
A clear design for governance, processes, controls, and policies provides the basis for holistic contract management throughout the entire contract lifecycle. It is also necessary to assess business partners and contractual risks. We will assist you in managing the regulatory requirements and overcoming the challenges that arise in relation to your contracts. This enables you to ensure that business relationships fulfill compliance requirements and that no actions are in violation of contractual conditions.
Contract lifecycle management
In order for contracts and the associated opportunities and risks to be actively managed, their entire lifecycle must be observed systematically. The experts from PwC will assist you in the digital and procedural transformation of your contract management system. We will work together with you to use contracts as a key management instrument and thus as a success factor for your business.
Contract analytics and intelligent review
Our contract assessment and intelligent review will provide you with a brief overview of your company’s contract landscape and the relevant conditions. The risks, obligations and entitlements contained in contracts are identified and individual contractual clauses can be extracted, classified, and then linked to further data. This reduces the workload in various contexts, e.g. repapering for M&A transactions, risk assessments for compliance reviews or calculating the financial impacts of legal claims.
Claims management
In recent years, a “claim culture” has emerged alongside a higher level of professionalization in the associated areas of the economy. The experts from PwC will review your contracts – from drafting and finalization through to safeguarding and asserting contractual rights and obligations. In doing so, we will consider organizational adjustments and any project-specific execution concepts as well as the involvement of interface functions and transparency relating to the risks and opportunities arising from the individual contractual clauses and claims.
Digital and managed services
The world of digital solutions for contract lifecycle management is growing in both size and complexity. For the selection of software and systems to be intelligent, it must be considered early on when defining the requirements for your business model and target vision. Furthermore, calls to tender that have the correct format and content and include a proof of concept will provide you with a more objective and sounder basis for decision-making and negotiations. We will also be pleased to assist you with the implementation, further automation, and operation here, doing so as a digitally enabled managed service.
Case studies from various industries
- Energy infrastructure
- Industrial production
- Automotive industry
- Chemicals
Energy infrastructure
Contract & claims management for a major energy infrastructure project
Our PwC experts assumed the tasks of conceptualization (governance and processes), of implementing the contract lifecycle management systems CLMS and of operation as a digitally enabled managed service.
- Solution for the management of a heterogeneous contract portfolio
- Review reliability achieved by systemically ensuring the completeness of all relevant documents
- Integration of the CLMS into the digital ecosystem with the “single source of truth” concept taken into account
- Actively using contract metadata as operational control elements
Industrial production
Assisting in the selection and implementation of a contract lifecycle management system (CLMS) for an industrial production company
The experts from PwC carried out the evaluation, reorganization, and piloting process for a CLMS. Assistance and organizational efforts entailed:
- Using artificial intelligence (AI) to review contracts
- Defining approval and signature workflows
- Integrating an electronic signature solution
Automotive industry
Contract compliance relating to raw materials at a German automotive group
The experts from PwC assisted in drawing up complex pricing structures in raw material contracts as these are often a source of financial leakages.
In particular, this involved:
- Capturing deficiencies or inefficiencies in buy-side and sell-side contracting as well as in invoicing
- Identifying areas of leakages using index recalculations and compliance analysis
- Delivering recommendations based on performance analysis and benchmarking
Chemicals
Connected contract analytics and intelligent Review
The experts from PwC assisted in bringing about transparency in relation to contracts and contractual conditions by identifying risks, obligations, and rights in contracts. This entailed:
- Extracting and classifying contractual clauses and combining the results with other data such as financial data
- Resultant efficiency increases in contexts such as restructuring contracts for transactions, risk assessment for compliance reviews and calculating the financial impacts of legal claims
How can PwC assist you?
Our experts will provide their extensive experience in all phases of contract management across a wide range of industries and projects – both in the private and public sector
Our interdisciplinary team consists of experts from across the areas of risk, capital projects and infrastructure, technology, and operations as well as legal and regulatory affairs. The common denominator of our team is our in-depth understanding of complex contracts.
“Contracts are at the core of all companies and business activities. Despite this, we often see that contract management processes are not consistently performed using state-of-the-art digital approaches, meaning that opportunities are missed, and some risks go undetected.”
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Dr. Matthias Schwenke
Partner, Legal Business Solutions, PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal AG Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft, Germany
Tel: +49 151 6134 2515
Nadja Wolf
Senior Manager, Contract Management & Compliance, PwC Germany
Tel: +49 151 14653401