Crowe Horwath has introduced technology to help companies comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new conflict minerals rule requiring them to perform due diligence to determine whether their products contain tin, tantalum, tungsten, or gold, determine the country of origin for those minerals and report their findings to customers and the SEC.
The conflicts mineral rule was mandated by Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The intent is to cut off funding to armed rebels responsible for human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjoining countries where these minerals are mined and sold. To help with this effort, SEC registered companies now must conduct reasonable country of origin inquiries and other analyses and report on those findings.
To assist with the complex process, the accounting and consulting firm Crowe Horwath LLP has introduced the Crowe Conflict Minerals Tracker. The system is designed to provide an efficient way to administer the required supplier query, data collection and reporting processes.
“Crowe developed the Crowe Conflict Minerals Tracker to assist companies with RCOI surveys and supplier due diligence,” said Mari Reidy, a financial advisory services partner with Crowe, in a statement. “Using the Crowe Conflict Minerals Tracker solution as part of a comprehensive approach toward conflict minerals compliance simplifies data collection, analysis and reporting to be more efficient and strengthen results.”
Features include an automated approach to centralized data collection designed to reduce duplicative requests and large spreadsheets. A “parts wizard” function helps identify any products or components requiring a reasonable country of origin inquiry. The system also offers Web-based questionnaire distribution to simplify supplier tracking and communication. Risk analysis dashboards help companies track and review their progress. Export features help transfer data to Form SD and a conflict minerals report. A built-in training video tutorial walks users through the processes.
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