Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Compliance comes calling

There are many industry-specific compliance requirements that can affect smaller, privately held SMBs, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is particularly far-reaching. It requires, for example, that a business's relevant financial reports be certified by both the CEO and CFO. While SOX definitely affects publicly held firms, "it can also indirectly affect SMBs that are privately-owned and aspire to go public or be acquired. In many cases, SOX can affect private SMBs that simply want to do business with public companies governed by SOX," says Luft.

"If they're not public corporations then obviously Bill 198 (SOX) may not apply. It becomes an issue of best practices. If they're not public, then it's not that it's of less importance, it's just that it's not a regulatory requirement in terms of corporate governance," says Daniel Paul, partner and lawyer at Ogilvy Renault's Montreal office, who specializes primarily in information technology (IT) law.

Compliance comes calling

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