Thursday, September 30, 2004

Policy Hub for Compliance: Fuego's Process Management (PDF)

A policy hub, the control point of a decision-making process, is a key element in supporting the management of compliance processes. This study illustrates this requirement by profiling Fuego, a provider of business process management system (BPMS) software. Fuego has taken its BPMS and developed supervisory control applications, one of which is targeted at automating and managing the controls over high-risk financial accounting and reporting processes in support of Sarbanes-Oxley. The strength of the Fuego approach is its process orientation, an implementation of IDC’s policy hub to address compliance.

Policy Hub for Compliance: Fuego's Process Management (PDF)

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IT Control Objectives for Sarbanes-Oxley (PDF)

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has fundamentally changed the business and regulatory environment. The Act aims to enhance corporate governance through measures that will strengthen internal checks and balances and, ultimately, strengthen corporate accountability. However, it is important to emphasize that section 404 does not require senior management and business process owners merely to establish and maintain an adequate internal control structure, but also to assess its effectiveness on an annual basis. This distinction is significant.

For those organizations that have begun the compliance process, it has quickly become apparent that IT plays a vital role in internal control. Systems, data and infrastructure components are critical to the financial reporting process. PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 2 discusses the importance of IT in the context of internal control. In particular, it states: The nature and characteristics of a company’s use of information technology in its information system affect the company’s internal control over financial reporting.

To this end, IT professionals, especially those in executive positions, need to be well versed in internal control theory and practice to meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. CIOs must now take on the challenges of (1) enhancing their knowledge of internal control, (2) understanding their organization’s overall Sarbanes-Oxley compliance plan, (3) developing a compliance plan to specifically address IT controls, and (4) integrating this plan into the overall Sarbanes-Oxley compliance plan.

IT Control Objectives for Sarbanes-Oxley (PDF)

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Mapping COSO and CobiT for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

Two control frameworks have been widely adopted by public companies subject to the requirements of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) Internal Control — Integrated Framework, released in 1992, and the IT Governance Institute's Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (CobiT). Although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suggests that public companies consider the control components of COSO when seeking Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, neither the SEC nor the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has openly endorsed a specific information technology control framework. Interestingly, as companies subject to the act's requirements get closer to first-year certification, more practical questions are being raised about the relationship and alignment between the COSO internal control framework and CobiT objectives.

Mapping COSO and CobiT for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Movaris to Provide Financial Control Management for Instinet Group

Movaris®, a leading provider of financial control management software, today announced that Instinet Group Incorporated [NASDAQ: INGP] has selected Movaris Certainty™ to manage its internal financial controls and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance requirements. As the largest global electronic agency securities broker through its affiliates, Instinet Group recognizes that their control environment will change, and will use the flexibility in Certainty to adjust and implement new control definitions while continually maintaining compliance.

Movaris Certainty not only documents the control definitions, but also records all changes and results of internal testing, creating a complete body of evidence about financial controls for both internal reports and the external auditors. The software also reminds participants to complete all required tasks correctly and on time, and it automatically escalates overdue tasks to management.

Press Release: Movaris to Provide Financial Control Management for Instinet Group

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Sarbanes Oxley Event: New York, 10/26/2004

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is a key business issue for your customers. On October 26th in New York City, Ziff Davis will run a full-day event focused on business and technology regulatory issues with speakers from the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force and the U.S. Securities and Exchange commission. To become a sponsor, please contact Martha Schwartz at (212) 503-5643 or martha_schwartz@ziffdavis.com.

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93% Of Corporate IT Executives Unaware of Their Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Responsibilities, According to Recent Survey by Obian

Findings Suggest a Significant Percentage of Companies Likely to Fail 2004 Audit Because of Lack of Awareness

A recent survey by Obian, Inc. found that an astounding 93% of chief information officers and other senior IT executives were unaware of their information technology control assessment responsibilities as mandated under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act - a finding that suggests a significant percentage of companies will fail their 2004 corporate governance audit.

93% Of Corporate IT Executives Unaware of Their Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Responsibilities, According to Recent Survey by Obian

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Thoughts from the Integration Consortium: Sarbanes-Oxley Act and IT: Why There is No "I" in "SOX Team"

Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance has become the number one issue facing CXO executives today. Compliance with the terms of the SEC's SOX Act of 2002 has become the number one pain point of most public organizations and boards of directors both in the U.S.A. and around the world. They are in a desperate race to ensure they have documented and tested a range of financial controls all to ensure the integrity of the financial number they make public at each year end and at each quarter. But the extensive and elaborate team of senior executives that meets once a week to discuss the progress of SOX compliance is often without a critical member of the team, the CTO or CIO. Information system executives are often left off the SOX compliance committees and teams simply because they are viewed as outside the realm of financial reporting.

Section 404 states in brief that executive managers and boards of directors of public organizations must acknowledge their responsibility for the financial controls within the organization and the accuracy of the financial information made public. Then they must provide an assessment of the effectiveness of these controls and have an auditor attest to this assessment. Section 409 stipulates that the same board and executives must disclose real-time information "concerning material changes in the financial condition or operations of the issuer including trends as the Commission determines necessary for the protection of investors and in the public interest." The ability to report real-time information and set controls to ensure the validity of financial information was thought by the SEC and the PCAOB to be fully within the realm of the financial professionals that posted the information. But they were wrong.

Thoughts from the Integration Consortium: Sarbanes-Oxley Act and IT: Why There is No "I" in "SOX Team"

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Auditors are Urged to Test Information System Integrity

Sarbanes-Oxley is clear: companies must have internal controls in place and the effectiveness of those controls must be audited. However, the law does not address the reliability of the company's information systems, which is now being addressed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

"We're leveraging our oversight role to encourage public accounting firms to look very closely at information-security controls of those companies," Chrisan Herrod, the SEC's chief security officer, said Tuesday during a conference on cybersecurity, which was reported by Dow Jones.

The SEC is asking auditors to look closely at information-security systems when assessing client companies' internal controls. Companies with fiscal years ending in November are among the first to be required by Sarbanes-Oxley to file an auditor's report on the effectiveness of their internal controls.

Auditors are Urged to Test Information System Integrity

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Quality Products Announces Change to Non-Reporting Status

In 2002, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and it imposed new requirements on public companies that report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Some of these requirements have already taken effect. Other requirements, in particular the internal control analysis and reporting requirements of Section 404, are scheduled to take effect for Quality Products, Inc. by September 2005. We have been studying what we need to do to meet the various Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, and we have determined that the resources needed to comply are substantial, both in terms of money and additional responsibilities for our limited number of employees. Because of its onerous burden, the Board of Directors has considered other alternatives and has decided, unanimously, to become a non-reporting company. Becoming a non-reporting company will eliminate the expensive Sarbanes-Oxley reporting requirements and will save substantial costs estimated to be well over $300,000 during the first year and continued savings annually afterwards.

Quality Products Announces Change to Non-Reporting Status

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Business Objects Sarbanes-Oxley Analytic Solution Helps Businesses with Compliance and Risk Management

Business Objects, a leading provider of business intelligence (BI) solutions, announced the availability of Sarbanes-Oxley Analytic Solution, an application that enables companies to more effectively manage regulatory compliance. The new product is part of BusinessObjects Analytics, a suite of enterprise analytic applications that allow organizations to better understand their operations, customers, products, people and operations.

BusinessObjects Sarbanes-Oxley Analytic Solution enables organizations to increase financial transparency and perform root cause analysis, quickly identify and highlight process irregularities and take corrective action, and improve oversight of their internal controls structure. BusinessObjects Sarbanes-Oxley Analytic Solution allows financial managers to investigate the data represented in reports and trace the data source to its origins, which is a key capability for compliance.

Business Objects Sarbanes-Oxley Analytic Solution Helps Businesses with Compliance and Risk Management

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Security and Sarbanes-Oxley

Security professionals may soon find themselves fielding calls from their companies' upper management concerning the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Sarbanes-Oxley, named for the two Congressmen who sponsored it, on the surface doesn't have much to do with IT security. The law was passed to restore the public's confidence in corporate governance by making chief executives of publicly traded companies personally validate financial statements and other information.

President Bush signed on the law on July 30, 2002. Initially, companies had to be in compliance this fall, but extensions were granted. Large corporations now have until June 15, 2004, to meet the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley. Smaller companies have to comply by April 15, 2005.

Congress passed the law in quick response to accounting scandals surrounding Enron and other companies. Sarbanes-Oxley deals with many corporate governance issues, including executive compensation and the use of independent directors. "When it was initially adopted, the last thing on their minds was security. The law was passed to address things such as off-book transactions," said Gary Saidman, an attorney specializing in information security matters with Atlanta-based law firm Kilpatrick Stockton.

Security and Sarbanes-Oxley

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Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Survey of CFO's Finds Value of Information Technology Goes Well beyond Regulatory Compliance

As businesses move beyond cost reduction and toward a growth agenda in 2004, Capgemini US LLC, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing, found that prudent IT investments can help achieve balance sheet objectives, service level improvements, risk mitigation and management, performance management and cost leadership. According to a Capgemini survey of the more than 200 finance & technology executives attending CFO magazine's IT Value Conference, four in ten (40%) said their CFO's top priority in supporting strategic IT investment to meet business profit and growth goals was moving toward a "variable cost structure and adaptive IT architecture to change quickly to shifting business needs."

Nearly half of respondents (43%) indicated the best example of CFO/CIO collaboration to drive success throughout the organization is "using IT investment to break down functional silos in order to create process-driven, cross-functionally aligned enterprises," compared to another three in ten (32%) who pointed to the creation of a Portfolio Management Office approach to enterprise transformation. In addition, a solid majority (59%) of respondents indicate that organizations are spending what is needed to meet all compliance needs as opposed to imposing cost controls (41%) to meet Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory requirements and mandates.

Survey of CFO's Finds Value of Information Technology Goes Well beyond Regulatory Compliance

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KPMG Survey: Insurance Execs Less Optimistic

Even before the full impact of the recent hurricane activity is known, the majority of the 150 senior insurance executives surveyed are less optimistic about premium growth and the industry's ability to increase margins, according to KPMG LLP. Survey results also reflected that the amount of resources needed to address Sarbanes-Oxley compliance was far greater than anticipated a year ago.

Only 57 percent of the executives surveyed indicated they expect their firms to perform above expectations in the next 12 months, as compared to 70 percent a year ago. The survey also found that the number of executives who indicated that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has had the greatest impact on the way they do business, increased to 83 percent up from 58 percent last year.

KPMG Survey: Insurance Execs Less Optimistic

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Sarbanes-Oxley Documentation for Administrators

Like most pieces of legislation, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (known as SOX) is quite lengthy and involved. In a nutshell, all financial data and reports must be accurate, agreed to (and signed off on) by those who are paid to oversee them, and they must be maintained for historical and audit purposes.

IT figures into this equation in the section of the Act known as 404 (see http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-66.htm). This section implies that there should be internal controls on the data and reports to assure that they are safe, uncorrupted, accurate, and so on. If a company is large enough to be publicly traded, and it keeps its data on elaborate computer systems, then suddenly it is up to the administrator and IT department to be able to prove that measures are in place to keep the network secure and tojustify everything that is done to and with data.

It is not enough to know that data is secure, or even to say that it is secure — you must document that it is secure. Audits are then done to verify that the proper measures are in place to make certain the data is secure. The following tips will help you understand what should be documented.

Sarbanes-Oxley Documentation for Administrators

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OpenPages Announces New Sarbanes-Oxley Customer, Resolution Performance Products LLC

OpenPages, a leading provider of enterprise governance, risk and compliance management solutions, today announced that Resolution Performance Products LLC has selected OpenPages Sarbanes-Oxley Express (SOX Express) for its Section 302 and 404 compliance initiatives.

Resolution Performance Products LLC is the leading worldwide manufacturer and developer of epoxy resins and is also the leading global manufacturer of Versatic acids and derivatives. Epoxy resins are chemicals primarily used in the manufacture of coatings, adhesives, printed circuit boards, fiber reinforced plastics and construction materials. The company, with approximately 900 employees, has operations in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Resolution Performance Products LLC will deploy SOX Express to facilitate compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. It will enable the collection of information regarding ongoing business internal controls, deployment and monitoring. By combining a strong document repository with powerful compliance automation capabilities, SOX Express will be a strong tool for project management and compliance, using web-based tools to get users up to speed quickly.

OpenPages Announces New Sarbanes-Oxley Customer, Resolution Performance Products LLC

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Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Configuresoft Charters The Center for Policy & Compliance; Team of Experts Clarify and Support Requirements Around Policy Development & Compliance

Configuresoft, the industry leader in configuration management, today unveiled its Center for Policy & Compliance. The Center is comprised of a team of security and policy experts, IT auditors and early contributors to the Federal mandates and industry best practices. While Configuresoft's goal includes helping administrators better understand and evaluate the security of their network, the driving factor behind the Center is to help the market gain a better understanding of the tools that can help plan and implement automated strategies that effectively address regulatory and policy compliance issues.

The Center's two main programs include content research and delivery of productized knowledge via sets of compliance templates, reports and dashboards. Areas of focus include but are not limited to regulatory items, such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), FISMA, HIPAA, GLBA, Basel II, and industry best practices/standards, such as NIST, CIS, SANS, ISO. The Center's first deliverable will be a turnkey solution for SOX compliance. It will include access control, audit control and access change monitoring. This will ensure a company's automated strategy for SOX compliance will consistently meet the mandate. Plans for a second package covering FISMA compliance is underway for later this month.

Configuresoft Charters The Center for Policy & Compliance; Team of Experts Clarify and Support Requirements Around Policy Development & Compliance

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Tools: IBM Lotus Workplace for Business Controls and Reporting

Learn how IBM Lotus Workplace for Business Controls and Reporting helps provide a platform for an organization's business reporting process and an organized approach to gathering information about business controls, including controls over financial reporting. By leveraging KPMG's industry insights and knowledge of internal control processes and practices via the KPMG Control Catalogs, or other third-party catalogs, you can get started quickly. It's not simply a matter of meeting new requirements but rather about streamlining business processes. Built on open J2EE standards, Lotus Workplace for Business Controls and Reporting role-based Web application offers companies a way to close gaps while leveraging current infrastructure. IBM provides an end-to end solution from a single vendor to help support requirements of Sarbanes Oxley 404 legislation. No other company has the breadth of experience, technology and services to help companies meet the new requirements.

Tool: IBM Lotus Workplace for Business Controls and Reporting

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Creating a Compliance Management Culture

Technology managers need to understand that they can't rest after ensuring their companies comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Like it or not, the flood of regulations has only just begun.

Industry, state, federal and international regulations related to IT will multiply over the next few years, industry analysts say. That means its vital that CIOs and other technology leaders create processes and architectures that make it easier to comply with new regulations.

The good news is that most enterprises already possess the technology needed to meet this new challenge.

''Companies shouldn't merely comply with new regulations -- they should use them for business improvement,'' says Joe Rizzo, a principal with Deloitte Consulting's CIO Advisory Services group. As examples, he cites some Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, such as those addressing access control. Sarbanes-Oxley mandates that enterprise software developers cannot have access to production systems, so that applications under development cannot be slipped into production before they're fully tested. ''That's just good business practice,'' Rizzo says.

Creating a Compliance Management Culture

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Paisley Consulting and Hudson Financial Solutions Join Forces to Provide Sarbanes-Oxley Software and Solutions

Paisley Consulting, a leading provider of business accountability software, and Hudson Financial Solutions, a practice group of Hudson Global Resources and provider of end-to-end solutions for complex financial issues, will work in partnership to offer services and software to clients implementing mandated Sarbanes-Oxley compliance programs.

Paisley Consulting's Focus(TM) Control Assurance Software is designed to help companies maintain accountability and responsibility for specific tasks and projects and to provide localized documentation and necessary certification of data associated with the compliance process. Hudson Financial Solutions will utilize Focus to assist CFOs, controllers and key financial leaders in designing and implementing comprehensive Sarbanes-Oxley compliance initiatives, from project scope and documentation through testing, remediation and ongoing monitoring.

Together, the companies will pursue mutual business opportunities integrating established project management methodologies with flexible management of resources and information. As part of a Hudson-Paisley Consulting SOX consulting solution, clients will pay reduced licensing fees and receive enhanced technical support.

Paisley Consulting and Hudson Financial Solutions Join Forces to Provide Sarbanes-Oxley Software and Solutions

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Companies Deciding Big Four Seal of Approval Not Worth the Cost

With audit fees skyrocketing and a highly complex portion of Sarbanes-Oxley coming due for implementation, many companies are leaving Big Four accounting firms for smaller audit shops where they can get more attention at less cost, USA Today reported.

Audit Analytics, which tracks the audit industry, reported that the Big Four firms-Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) lost more audit clients than they gained in the first eight months of this year, with two-thirds of the 396 auditor separations involving Big Four firms.

Companies Deciding Big Four Seal of Approval Not Worth the Cost

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Captara Corporation Announces Sarbanes-Oxley Reporting Solution for Capex Finance Obligations

Captara Corporation, a provider of business process management solutions for capex finance, today announced the availability of its Sarbanes-Oxley Reporting Application. Among other requirements, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act demands that a company's annual and quarterly reports disclose all material off-balance sheet financial obligations and amounts due under specified contractual obligations such as lease arrangements, loans and other debt instruments.

The Captara solution delivers visibility into and control of the complete capex finance lifecycle, from policy creation and deployment to compliance monitoring and reporting. Key reports include disclosure of capital leases, operating leases, loan payments and other material disclosures, enabling compliance with FASB and Sarbanes-Oxley. Other reports include transaction listings, notification summary, asset management, lender transactions, evergreen warnings, and payment summaries.

Captara Corporation Announces Sarbanes-Oxley Reporting Solution for Capex Finance Obligations

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Monday, September 27, 2004

Sarbanes-Oxley as an IT-business alignment driver

If something affects the business -- be it emerging competition, shifts in market demand, process re-engineering, or government regulations -- then it affects how the business' computing systems are managed. The Sarbanes-Oxley regulations are a perfect example. When the law was passed in 2002, most enterprises viewed it as an issue for their auditors and financial officers. But lo and behold, in October 2003, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board proposed an auditing standard (PCAOB; Release No. 2003-017) that states "the nature and characteristics of a company's use of information technology in its information system affect the company's internal control over financial reporting."

Surprise, surprise! IT does matter in how the business is run -- at least that's how government regulators see things.

Sarbanes-Oxley as an IT-business alignment driver

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Shareholder Litigation Against Foreign Companies on the Rise in 2004

"The number of securities litigation cases filed against non-U.S. companies listed on U.S. markets will most likely continue to increase. Closer cooperation between U.S. and foreign regulators, and more frequent reviews of foreign filings as required by Sarbanes-Oxley, will result in increased exposure for companies," said Grace Lamont, Securities Litigation partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers and author of the study. "The unknown consequences of reporting on internal controls under Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 and the conversion throughout Europe to International Financial Reporting Standards in the next year represent other potential areas of risk where companies could fall foul of laws and regulations. Larger settlement values can also be anticipated in the future."

Shareholder Litigation Against Foreign Companies on the Rise in 2004

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Frances, SOX and Inevitability

As the November 15 deadline looms for SOX compliance, Big Four firms have been working overtime with their larger audit clients on their financial reporting systems to meet that date.

As a result, the combination of manpower shortages and cost-efficiency has prompted the global firms to, well, jettison smaller (read: less profitable) clients in favor of their larger blue-chip counterparts.

Now you didn't have to cover, or, for that matter work, in the profession very long to see this trend coming, but apparently, Donald Nicolaisen, the chief accountant the Securities and Exchange Commission, is a bit concerned.

He castigated the firms for "running away from the marketplace" and urged them not to use SOX as "a convenient tool" to manage their businesses.

When SOX was first signed into law, many accounting and financial publications (including ours) featured articles and numerous consultant predictions that this was going to be the future of auditing for SEC issuers.

Frances, SOX and Inevitability

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USATODAY.com - More firms flee Big Four accountants

Cost is the main reason for the shift. Audit fees were already rising, thanks to greater demands in new regulations. Many fear fees could really take off this year, because an especially onerous part of Sarbanes-Oxley, Section 404, takes effect for many companies. The rules require auditors to conduct expensive tests of a company's accounting controls to make sure there are safeguards to stop the books from getting cooked.

Better access to top accounting professionals also is a factor. Given the complex new accounting rules, many companies want ready access to the partner in charge of the audit, says Leland Graul, director at BDO. The Big Four, which rely heavily on recent college grads, assign a partner to every 10 to 12 employees, he says. BDO has one partner to every six, he says.

USATODAY.com - More firms flee Big Four accountants

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.: UBmatrix - Technologies and integrated solutions enabling automated data exchange, validation

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the agency that insures banks, is a customer. Every quarter, FDIC member banks send financial statements to the FDIC. The agency spends 60 to 75 days every quarter manually inputting data and performing audit checks. With the UBmatrix approach, the process now can take 10 days. Blackstone said that when the program goes fully live next year, it will take just one day.

Smaller scale: Companies can also buy software from UBmatrix that makes it easier to gather data that complies with GAAP, or generally accepted accounting principles, which public companies use to report financial performance.

Accounting rules: UBmatrix tools can make it easier for companies to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires companies to use methods that ensure data can be audited at a certain level.

UBmatrix - Technologies and integrated solutions enabling automated data exchange, validation & analysis

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Saturday, September 25, 2004

Accountants, in demand, seeing hefty pay hikes

What is causing the fight to keep auditors is like a force of nature, said Caturano. Public companies, now exposed to increased financial-reporting requirements as a result of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act, are hiring mid-level accountants to work in-house. Those accountants have between two and seven years experience and come from the audit, not tax, side of a firm's practice.

At the same time, there is a shortage of accountants with that experience. While the pipeline of accountants coming out of college is strong, it was weak toward the end of last decade, and it will take a few years before more people get the experience to fill those ranks, experts say.

Moreover, accounting firms find themselves in the same position as corporations: They are forced to do more audit work with the same staff.

"It's like the perfect storm," Caturano said. "More than ever is the shortage in mid-level (accounting) prevalent."

Accountants, in demand, seeing hefty pay hikes

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SEC gets a second try on Gemstar exec pay / Agency says funds should be frozen during fraud probe

A federal appeals court in San Francisco gave the Securities and Exchange Commission another chance Friday to make its case for blocking big corporate payments to executives who are under investigation for securities fraud.

The case involves one of the SEC's important new powers under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Congress' response to corporate scandals. The provision authorizing the agency to seek temporary escrow of extraordinary payments to a publicly traded company's employees during a fraud investigation was intended to keep the money available for possible fines or repayment.

SEC gets a second try on Gemstar exec pay / Agency says funds should be frozen during fraud probe

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Friday, September 24, 2004

SEC May Help Businesses With Accounting

Securities regulators are considering ways to help small businesses cope with strict new corporate accounting and internal control rules, a senior Securities and Exchange Commission official told lawmakers Thursday.

In testimony to a House Financial Services subcommittee, SEC corporation finance division director Alan Beller said regulators are looking at ways they might "recalibrate" regulations for smaller firms.

Congress didn't exempt small companies from tough new requirements contained in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and Beller told lawmakers that improving corporate governance, accounting and financial controls "is important for all companies, regardless of size."

SEC May Help Businesses With Accounting

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Cybermation: Socking it to SOX and ISO 17799

In the past few years we've witnessed a fundamental shift in attitude towards computer security in regards to the controls we put on business. Previously, it seemed acceptable to patch things together in a makeshift manner, as long as it worked well enough and helped the company profit.

That all changed with the financial irregularities that besieged some major companies and led to their eventual downfall. What were once monolithic corporations that would never face bankruptcy did. One of the issues that the scandals helped to spotlight was the need to have stricter controls on how corporations engage in business with other firms and within themselves.

The ability to trace and audit these activities was addressed at the highest levels, particularly with the advent of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Bill of 2002. As of June 15th, 2004, most public companies must meet the requirements of SOX and smaller companies along with foreign companies within the U.S. must have them met by July 15th, 2005.

Cybermation: Socking it to SOX and ISO 17799

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Follett Corporation Selects OpenPages SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

OpenPages, a leading provider of enterprise governance, risk and compliance management solutions, today announced that Follett Corporation has selected OpenPages Sarbanes-Oxley Express (SOX Express) for evaluating and managing its internal controls.


With annual revenue in excess of $1.9 billion, Follett is a leading provider of educational solutions, services and products that empower schools, libraries, colleges, students and life-long learners. Through the Follett Higher Educational Group, Follett operates campus bookstores across the United States and Canada and is a leading provider of used college textbooks. Through the Follett Library and School Group, Follett provides K-12 schools and public libraries with a wide variety of books, ebooks, and audiovisual materials. The Follett Library and School Group is also a leading provider of library automation solutions for K-12 schools and the largest provider of K-12 textbooks.

Follett will deploy SOX Express to streamline its internal control documentation process enterprise-wide. SOX Express will enable the collection of information regarding ongoing business controls deployment and monitoring. By combining a strong document repository with powerful compliance automation capabilities, SOX Express will facilitate both project management and compliance, using web-based tools to get users up to speed quickly.

Follett Corporation Selects OpenPages SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Thursday, September 23, 2004

European Companies Taking a Faltering Approach to Sarbanes-Oxley

A.R.C. Morgan has released the findings of their European Companies Sarbanes-Oxley Benchmarking survey - the survey indicates that more than 69 percent of European companies interviewed are only at the very early stages of planning their Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 project. The survey also reveals that European companies are not paying heed to the whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The results of this Benchmarking Survey should cause alarm within Board Rooms of those European companies that must comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

European Companies Taking a Faltering Approach to Sarbanes-Oxley

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Reports from the Sarbanes-Oxley Front Lines

"Our auditors appear to be on the extreme side. Effective September 20, DBAs aren't allowed to hold administration rights in production because we're also considered developers. If a DBA needs access to the production environment, they have to wait for the Help desk to generate a work order, then request the ID from the network administrators (hopefully they're not busy at 2 a.m. when a job fails). And then there's all the logging we have to do now. At this point, we have over 20 logs that must be checked and acknowledged daily; by month end, it's likely to exceed 50. The joke around here is that we are going to have to start a new department with the sole purpose of reviewing the logs each day. The 'separation of duties' isn't a bad thing if you're fortunate to have a large IT department. But with seven people supporting offices in six states, there aren't enough heads for all the new hats."

The Sarbanes-Oxley auditors for this reader's firm have decided that they simply won't let production DBAs have the sa password. I wish this was a crazy, silly, extreme example, but I suspect that Dilbertian episodes like this one will become more common as more companies begin comprehensive Sarbanes-Oxley compliance activities. Another reader shared this scenario:

"We were just wrung through the Sarbanes-Oxley wringer here. And in my opinion, the effort was a total waste of time. The auditors didn't know what they were supposed to do, and they missed a lot of things that would have benefited from a closer audit scrutiny. Important concerns were either given a cursory look or totally ignored, while auditors focused on 'important' financial bottom-line stuff like "How often do you change passwords?" and "Where do you store your backup drives?" Those are certainly valid IT audit concerns, but I kept asking them "How does this affect our corporate financial statements?" It seems to me that auditors with lots of axes to grind went way overboard in using Sarbanes-Oxley as a big stick to get their way on certain things."

Reports from the Sarbanes-Oxley Front Lines

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Sarbanes-Oxley: Accountants Setting IT Policy?

Will your accountant be setting corporate IT policy sometime soon? My recent articles about using SQL Server Profiler during application development raised a lot of interest in and debate about how to give developers controlled access to Profiler (and the requisite sa password) in production and quality assurance (QA) environments without giving away the keys to the kingdom. And some readers said they're particularly concerned about how the U.S. Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, aka the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, will affect their IT environments. Although Sarbanes-Oxley doesn't regulate information technology, IT is the foundation for the financial processes that the law regulates.

Do you have any idea what Sarbanes-Oxley legislation means to your IT department? The above comment came from a reader whose organization's IT security policy is being set by a team of auditors who, quite frankly, aren't trained to implement proper security measures. I spoke off the record with a colleague who has a fair amount of experience helping companies design Sarbanes-Oxley compliance plans. He said that some internal and external auditor groups are being overly aggressive in their interpretation of certain sections of Sarbanes-Oxley. These different interpretations can lead to inconsistencies where one group of auditors tells a company, "Yes, Bob can have the sa password," and another set of auditors tells the company, "Heck no, Bob can't have the sa password."

Sarbanes-Oxley: Accountants Setting IT Policy?

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From 'Can't' to Compliant

The dreaded Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley takes effect in December, requiring companies to document in detail how they do business—and then disclose those details. Are you ready?

Most companies aren't, according to an Institute for Internal Auditors (IIA) survey of its members. The survey showed that as of Feb. 8, an astonishingly low 1.9% were fully compliant with Sarbanes-Oxley rules, and another 14.6% had only begun their assessment. Even if the bulk of those companies finish on time, lots of enterprises will be left with their assets hanging in the breeze.

How ready are you for compliance? Download the PDF and take our self-assessment quiz.

From 'Can't' to Compliant

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Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Privacy Is Overrated - Executives at publicly held companies insist they want to take their firms private. They're lying.

Corporate America is whining about costs associated with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the regulatory bill passed in the wake of the corporate scandals. A study released last week by the law firm Foley & Lardner found that 21 percent of public firms surveyed said they were considering going private "as a result of new corporate governance and disclosure reforms." Business Week's May 24 issue suggested that smaller companies are avoiding the public stock markets, perhaps hindering capital formation.

But while many executives are bitching about the costs of Sarbanes-Oxley, few are doing anything about it. If being a public company were really so troublesome post-Sarbanes-Oxley, managers, being rational creatures, would be taking their companies private at a rapid rate. And they'd be shying away from taking private companies public. The data shows neither is happening. Since Sarbanes-Oxley went into effect, more than twice as many companies have gone public as have gone private.

Privacy Is Overrated - Executives at publicly held companies insist they want to take their firms private. They're lying.

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Corporate Governance Reforms Manageable and Permanent, According to Global Survey of Senior Executives

The recent reforms of corporate governance standards have been broadly accepted by senior business leaders worldwide, according to Corporate Reputation Watch (CRW), Hill & Knowlton's annual survey of global management on business reputation issues. According to the study, corporate leaders have overcome their initial misgivings about the potential administrative and financial burdens of complying with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley era.

Only eight percent of senior executives surveyed believe that the task of complying with the new financial disclosure and corporate governance standards poses a real challenge to running a competitive business, while almost half (45 percent) say the compliance burden is "heavy but manageable." Expressing no misgivings about the compliance requirements, 48 percent say that the burden is "reasonable." Moreover, almost two-thirds of those surveyed believe that it is no more difficult to recruit board members today than it was before the new governance reforms were adopted.

Corporate Governance Reforms Manageable and Permanent, According to Global Survey of Senior Executives

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Will Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Leave a Hole in Your Budget?

Identifying how all of your company's processes work is supposed to be a benefit of going through the rigor of complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which is designed to curb financial fraud among U.S. corporations. But is the practical effect of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance to make a company less efficient, rather than more?

Most likely, yes. At least if you're CarrAmerica Realty, a $570 million-a-year real estate investment trust based in Washington, D.C.

The company's technology shop this year gave back $750,000 of its $12 million budget because it didn't have time to pursue initiatives aimed at improving its efficiency. The culprit: Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. The 40-person staff didn't have time to pursue both.

"We had to focus so many things on Sox,'' says Susan Gerock, the senior director of systems integration and support at CarrAmerica. "We had budgets for projects and had to give back the budgets."

Will Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Leave a Hole in Your Budget?

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Coldwater Creek Selects OpenPages SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

OpenPages, a leading provider of enterprise governance, risk and compliance management solutions, today announced that Coldwater Creek (NASDAQ: CWTR) has selected OpenPages Sarbanes-Oxley Express (SOX Express) for its Section 302 and 404 compliance initiatives.

Coldwater Creek is an integrated multi-sales channel retailer of women's apparel, jewelry, footwear, gift items and accessories through a growing number of full-line retail stores located in major metropolitan areas, an e-commerce web site at www.coldwatercreek.com, and direct-mail catalogs.

Coldwater Creek will deploy SOX Express to streamline its internal control documentation process across all of its locations. It will enable the collection of information regarding ongoing business controls deployment and monitoring, resulting in a reduction of compliance costs. By combining a strong document repository with powerful compliance automation capabilities, SOX Express will facilitate both project management and compliance, using web-based tools to get users up to speed quickly.

Coldwater Creek Selects OpenPages SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Microsoft ready to make more big acquisitions, says CFO

Connors went on to say that that Microsoft does not have much trouble meeting the compliance rules such as Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, but there should be relief for smaller companies. Sarbanes-Oxley is a set of corporate disclosure and financial reporting rules for companies that are traded publicly in the US.

"For large organisations that have the resources the amount of time spent on this by senior-level people is more diffused than in a smaller organisation. So it is disproportionate for a small public company in terms of senior management time spent on this act and its compliance," Connors said.

Microsoft ready to make more big acquisitions, says CFO

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Sarbanes-Oxley Moves EHS Auditing From the Backroom to Boardroom

The role of Environmental, Health & Safety (EHS) auditors and the information they assess is currently undergoing a sea change. Traditionally, EHS auditors have assessed company-specific information using company-specific metrics for use by an internal audience within the company. Recent developments, such as the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and increased adoption of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), are broadening the scope of both information collection and modes of data delivery, as well as the audience.

EHS professionals addressed this dynamic earlier this month in Philadelphia at the annual Auditing Roundtable conference, entitled The Role and Practice of EHS Auditing in a New Era of Corporate Governance and Management Systems. EHS auditing is overseen by the Board of Environmental, Health & Safety Auditor Certifications (BEAC), a joint venture between the Auditing Roundtable and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).

Sarbanes-Oxley Moves EHS Auditing From the Backroom to Boardroom

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Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Private Companies Voluntarily Adopting Sarbanes-Oxley Provisions

To gauge the accuracy of conventional wisdom, FEI and Baruch queried private companies this quarter on their attitudes towards Sarbanes-Oxley. Results indicate it is being embraced by private companies. Almost 60% of surveyed private companies plan to comply with at least some aspects of Sarbanes-Oxley (see list on page 3 for more detail). The reasons cited by those who are complying at least in part are that "it's a better way to run a
business," 61%; "they anticipate it will apply eventually to private
companies," 52%; and "stakeholders should be treated like public investors," 35%. (More than one response was allowed).

Of the private companies that might consider going public, over half (54%) say Sarbanes-Oxley will not deter them. In contrast, 20% are holdouts, saying they will not go public because of the requirements.

Private Companies Voluntarily Adopting Sarbanes-Oxley Provisions

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FrontRange Solutions' HEAT Supports Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance; FrontRange's Partners Help SME Customers Use HEAT to Meet SarbOx Objectives

Public companies that must comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SarbOx), can now tap the HEAT(R) IT Service Management software from FrontRange Solutions, the leader in Service Management and Customer Relationship Management(CRM) solutions for distributed and small to mid-size enterprise(SME). HEAT's capabilities help SMEs meet the stated objective of SarbOx to "protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws."

For many SME companies, the most challenging component of SarbOx compliance is Section 404, which requires that management file an internal control report demonstrating adequate internal controls over financial reporting have been established and maintained. Section 404 also requires that management report their assessment of the effectiveness of these internal controls. External auditors are then obliged to provide an independent opinion or attest to the adequacy of these controls.

FrontRange Solutions' HEAT Supports Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance; FrontRange's Partners Help SME Customers Use HEAT to Meet SarbOx Objectives

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Accounting students in high demand

Sarbanes-Oxley federal legislation has introduced new accounting requirements that have increased demand for accountants, and a recovering economy also has driven demand. Students are aware of that demand, and it's drawing more of them into accounting majors, as is the knowledge that accounting can serve as a good base for business in general, Schultz said.

"Sarbanes-Oxley is the accounting full-employment act," said Ron Kucic, director of the school of accounting at DU's Daniels College of Business. And demand for more accounting work isn't just at publicly traded companies, to which Sarbanes-Oxley applies, but also at private companies, which are coming under pressure from lenders, investors and others to meet Sarbanes-Oxley standards.

The number of firms recruiting on the DU campus this year has picked up to eight or nine, from a typical six firms in the past. Accounting firms have "more work than they know what to do with," Kucic said.

Another problem for large accounting firms is their loss of good people to private industry, which tends to pay better and offer more reasonable hours. That means they've got to fill those spots.

Accounting students in high demand

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Sarbox: Spur to Foreign-Company Flight?

Section 404, in particular, might be causing a number of overseas companies to take the difficult step of deregistering with U.S. regulators.

A number of foreign companies traded publicly here are reportedly willing to take the step of deregistering with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to shed Sarbanes-Oxley compliance burdens..

A handful of non-U.S.-based companies have chosen to de-list from U.S. exchanges according to The Wall Street Journal. Their decisions have come before governance provisions like Sarbox Section 404 go into effect next year for foreign-based companies that are listed in the United States.

Sarbox: Spur to Foreign-Company Flight?

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Monster.com reports surge in area ads

Besides sales, occupations seeing higher interest from Philadelphia-area employers are in information technology, with postings up 68 percent from a year ago; accounting and auditing, up 46 percent; and administrative and support, up 27 percent.

The rebound in information technology is a welcome development for an industry that has struggled to recover from the dot-com bust and the loss of some jobs to outsourcing. The demand for accountants and auditors is driven, in part, by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 passed in the wake of the Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. scandals.

Monster.com reports surge in area ads

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Monday, September 20, 2004

Reconnex Introduces Program to Help Companies Rapidly Gain Control of Compliance Liabilities

Reconnex, a pioneer in the development of high performance enterprise security solutions designed to reduce the costs and damage associated with disclosures of confidential information, today announced a new program as part of the company's compliance service offerings. The e-Risk Rapid Assessment program determines whether companies are in compliance with industry regulations and provides an unprecedented view into a company's intellectual and private information to protect competitive advantages and detect attacks against critical information repositories. Using the e-Risk Rapid Assessment program, companies across various industries can quickly gain visibility into the disclosure of their sensitive information and map these disclosures back to compliance violations The program quickly reveals the areas in which companies are not in compliance by tying together the disclosures of confidential information to key industry regulations including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, California SB 1386 and Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Reconnex Introduces Program to Help Companies Rapidly Gain Control of Compliance Liabilities

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OpenPages SOX Express Purchased by Lloyds TSB for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

OpenPages, a leading provider of enterprise governance, risk and compliance management solutions, today announced that Lloyds TSB Bank plc has purchased its Sarbanes-Oxley Express (SOX Express) product to help manage and report on compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

OpenPages' SOX Express is an enterprise compliance management solution that reduces the time and resource costs associated with ongoing compliance for Sections 302 and 404. SOX Express is a focused enterprise application that combines powerful document and business process management with flexible reporting capabilities in an extremely easy-to-use environment that enables CEOs, CFOs and financial management officers to enforce internal controls. SOX Express helps corporations automate significant aspects of their internal controls framework to significantly reduce the overall cost of compliance. Its dashboards can be used by project managers, documentation team members, internal auditors and external auditors to plan, document and test the internal controls of the company, and eventually to attest to the financial statements.

OpenPages SOX Express Purchased by Lloyds TSB for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Hardly Ready for Sarbanes-Oxley

Inside the sleek office towers of Corporate America, far from the façade that most businesses present to outsiders, publicly traded companies are racing against the clock. Their task: To comply with some of the most far-reaching federal regulatory changes they've ever faced -- and to do so before yearend. Many execs find their stomachs churning.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which passed in July, 2002, in the wake of major corporate scandals, requires that management of any large public company that ends its fiscal year on Nov. 15, 2004, or later, assess its internal controls over financial reporting. These are the nitty gritty of procedures that govern actions such as issuing checks and recording sales. Then, companies must hire independent auditors to "attest" to the accuracy of management's report. Both management's and auditors' assessment must make it into the annual report for 2004.

Hardly Ready for Sarbanes-Oxley

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Huttig Building Products, Inc. Selects Movaris for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance and Financial Control Management

Movaris® a leading provider of financial control management software, today announced that Huttig Building Products, Inc. [NYSE: HBP], a distributor of building materials, will use Movaris Certainty™ to manage its internal financial controls and for its Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance requirements. Huttig selected Movaris Certainty for its ease-of-use, control documentation and action plan capabilities for both Section 404 and Section 302 compliance, as well as for ongoing financial control improvement. Prior to selecting Movaris Certainty, Huttig utilized a software tool developed by one of the “Big 4” accounting firms, but sought a full-function application for better management of their financial controls as well as ongoing Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance.

Huttig Building Products, Inc. Selects Movaris for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance and Financial Control Management

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Excellence in Corporate Governance

The Excellence in Corporate Governance online program will examine the rules and regulations by which companies must abide to protect their organizations and stockholders. Specific topics addressed will include: issues facing boards of directors and audit committees; financial reporting; internal control reporting by management (Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley); management responsibilities; legal implications; and implementation and execution practices. Certified public accountants participating in the courses can receive continuing professional education (CPE) credit.

Excellence in Corporate Governance

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How Many Vendors Does It Take To Comply With Sarbanes-Oxley?

I’m flying back from the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) meeting and reflecting back on two days of hearing the scoop from real users on their successes, trials, and tribulations in applying Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology. A popular topic with both users and vendors was compliance with the federal rules regarding corporate accounting and accountability contained in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).

The Bottom Line: Companies are now realizing the long-term implications of ongoing SOX compliance and expecting auditors to tighten the requirements as they learn more.

How Many Vendors Does It Take To Comply With Sarbanes-Oxley?

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Saturday, September 18, 2004

INTELLIGO, Inc. - Sarbanes-Oxley

The sense of urgency to comply with the 2004 and 2005 compliance deadlines of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act makes Intelligo's services and products in Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance critical to the success of a software implementation.

Intelligo's products and services can help you meet the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requirements for identifying what financial documentation you produce and how you produce it. We can also help you with the SOX requirement for documenting internal controls.

INTELLIGO, Inc. - Sarbanes-Oxley

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Small clients dropped

Deloitte & Touche LLP, KPMG LLP and Ernst & Young LLP have dropped at least eight small U.S. audit clients in the past seven weeks, raising the concern of the Securities and Exchange Commission's chief accountant.

The Big Four accounting firms, Deloitte, Ernst, KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, say they are overworked as they help their biggest and most profitable clients meet a Nov. 15 deadline to improve financial reporting systems under the Sarbanes-Oxley law. The SEC is worried that the auditors may be using the law as an excuse to abandon some smaller audit jobs.

Small clients dropped

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Friday, September 17, 2004

Despite Early Protests, Foreign Firms Flock to PCOAB

Although foreign accounting firms bristled at Sarbanes-Oxley Act provisions requiring them to seek approval from regulators in Washington in order to audit the financial statements of U.S. companies, they are now flocking by the hundreds to register with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

Of the 1,319 registrations processed by the board through mid-September, more than one-third are from non-U.S. firms, PCAOB registration and inspections director Patricia Thompson said. More foreign firms are expected to register, even though the official deadline for doing so passed on July 19, she said in a report to the PCAOB’s public meeting on Wednesday.

Despite Early Protests, Foreign Firms Flock to PCOAB

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Executing an IT Audit for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

Concluding her two-part series on handling Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, Michelle Johnston explains how to audit your organization: My previous article in this series described how to prepare your organization for auditing. Now we'll delve into the audit itself—what's involved, and how to survive it.

Ultimately, Sarbanes-Oxley makes executives responsible for ensuring that these controls are in place and effective, and this fact is making Sarbanes-Oxley a high priority on most companies' agendas: Executives are aware that they could go to jail if these processes are not in place and/or are ineffective. Suddenly, executives are very interested in what's going on in the murky depths of the IT department!

Executing an IT Audit for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Part of the grind

When the Securities and Exchange Commission originally published its Sarbanes-Oxley rules to establish professional conduct for attorneys representing companies before the SEC, the legal profession began spewing its reactions - some pro, but mostly con.

Many attorneys saw the new regulations as a threat to the sacrosanct attorney-client privilege, and the SEC since has modified them, making them easier to swallow, local attorneys say.

Part of the grind

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Looking back: More vendors rolling out Sarbanes-Oxley software

Last Summer, Computerworld ran an article entitled More vendors rolling out Sarbanes-Oxley software. Among the software solutions profiled were Open Pages, Protiviti, Oracle, and Concur. What has changed in a year? Have any of these solutions gained a definitive hold in the market? Are any of those products helping you currently?

We would love to hear about it.

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Thursday, September 16, 2004

U.S. Companies Consider Going Private to Skirt Sarbanes Oxley

"Any company under $100 million in revenues has to be asking itself whether it's worth it to stay public,'' said Brent Longnecker, president of Longnecker & Associates, a Houston-based consulting firm for executive compliance and corporate governance. He estimates that the cost of being public has risen more than 150 percent over the past year because of the new federal regulations.

Longnecker said he knows of six small private companies that dropped plans to go public and four small public companies in the South and Midwest that have requested analysis of the pros and cons of going private, as a result of the Sarbanes-Oxley law. A major reason for higher costs is the new requirement to audit internal controls -- an area that accountants previously neglected because it might trigger lawsuits against them if audit clients went bust.

U.S. Companies Consider Going Private to Skirt Sarbanes Oxley

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Potential SOX Delays, other SEC Updates

Questions arise as we get closer to the November 15, 2004 start date for SOX compliance, with SEC insiders and companies alike wondering if there is enough time left to get affairs in order. Read more at Accounting Today


Visit the SEC website for releases on Sarbanes Oxley implementation, and other considerations.
http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/sarbanes-oxley.htm

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Trey Resources Announces Major Assignment In Lucrative Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Market; To Conduct SOX Technology Audit For $400 Million Nasdaq Company

Trey Resources, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: TYRIA - News) announced today that SWK Technologies, its wholly owned subsidiary, has been awarded a contract to conduct a technology audit for Columbus McKinnon Corporation, a Nasdaq National Market company, as mandated by the new Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. These audits represent a new and rapidly growing profit center for SWK.

SWK Technologies anticipates completing many such audits in order to assist public companies in complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The company has recently added more professionals to ensure that the company is properly staffed for the rapidly growing demand for its services.

Trey Resources Announces Major Assignment In Lucrative Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Market; To Conduct SOX Technology Audit For $400 Million Nasdaq Company

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Lawson Software Warns

Lawson Software Inc. (LWSN) provided first quarter guidance that misses Wall Street's consensus estimates as lower business activity, longer customer decision cycles and contract deferrals dampen results.

Lawson Software attributed some industry slowdown to uncertainty related to legal matters surrounding Oracle Corp.'s (ORCL) bid for PeopleSoft Inc. (PSFT), along with the prospect of industry consolidation. Lawson Software also claims that Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is hurting customers' capital spending on software, which curtailed software licensing activity.

Lawson Software Warns

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Webinar: Improving Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

Thursday, September 23, 2004 / 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM (PDT)

The implications and impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are far reaching for public companies today, from more stringent SEC oversight and auditor independence, to better corporate responsibility, improved business processes for financial disclosure, and steeper fines and penalties for non-compliance.

But when it comes down to the day-to-day activities under scrutiny, companies continue to struggle with how to establish proven and efficient processes to reduce costs associated managing documents and financial data, particularly the spreadsheets used to track revenues, costs, commissions and other financial reporting metrics.

Please join us for this exciting online event on Thursday, September 23, 2004 from 8:30 - 9:30 AM (PDT) and learn how Scientific Software Remediation Services for Microsoft Excel and the Enterprise Content Manager (ECM) platform can improve spreadsheet compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley mandates.

Webinar: Improving Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Tools: Aline Approach 4 SOX

The Aline™ Approach 4 SOX is for companies looking for ways to significantly reduce the time and money spent on developing and analyzing the documentation and testing needed for Sarbanes Oxley Section 404. Companies already using it have seen significant savings of 25%-30%. Just as importantly, they are finding the value of Aline™ goes far beyond an auditor's signature and can be used to help answer significant questions about their business.

Aline™ assures that the SOX 404 project will be completed in less time and on time
(in 90-120 days), including using a cascaded risk-weighted approach to avoid unnecessary responses.

Aline™ automatically generates quality SOX deliverables and their status (including an actual Management Report on Internal Control) that can be previewed by management and the external auditor, in real-time.

Aline™ costs are guaranteed to be less than the savings created on any SOX 404 project: saving 25-30% of the overall costs of compliance in year one and 60-70% on an ongoing basis. It can also reduce Auditor attestation costs by 10-15%.

Tool: Aline Approach 4 SOX

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BI International offers Public Companies a way to quickly make sense of their Sarbanes Oxley data.

As Companies are hustling to meet their Sarbanes-Oxley deadlines. They have collected a mountain of documentation and assessments and many have testing underway. Organizing all this data in a way that makes sense is overwhelming.

BI International offers a new kind of solution to companies who need to get analysis done under the time constraints of Sarbanes. It has developed an affordable service to integrate a company's data, be it in a database, spreadsheets, or documents and in a matter of a few days, incorporate that data into its Aline tool, which will immediately generate a set of sophisticated dynamic reports designed to uncover the issues Sarbanes-Oxley addresses. Indeed, companies can have the core of an Internal Management report in minutes. And taking advantage of the fact that Aline is web-based, remediations are easily entered and dealt with.

BI International offers Public Companies a way to quickly make sense of their Sarbanes Oxley data.

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Tools: Calculating Costs of Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

It's August of 2003: Do you know where your company's Sarbanes-Oxley compliance system is?

Like many companies, your publicly traded $3 billion retail operation has been a rather late—and disgruntled—adopter of the tough corporate-compliance rules triggered by the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. You've struggled to meet the provisions of Section 302, already in effect, which covers detailed certification of quarterly financial statements. But Section 404, which holds executive management responsible for their company's internal control system, is now looming large.

So it's time to get moving: If a company's compliance system doesn't measure up, it'll be the CEO's (and the CFO's) head on a platter. The challenge is nothing less than a thorough analysis and overhaul of all internal controls. And this isn't a corporate-only job; all six subsidiaries and 2,000 stores, plus hundreds of employees, will need to be involved—and diverted—in the process.

Tool: Calculating Costs of Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Compliance Consortium

The Compliance Consortium™ is an international membership organization designed to promote effective and efficient enterprise governance, risk and compliance management. Technology, content and services companies participating in the consortium work to identify best practices for applying technology to compliance business processes and to exploiting those best practices to improve overall business performance.

Compliance Consortium

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UCLA Law Prof Stephen Bainbridge presents his observations on Sarbanes-Oxley

Stephen Bainbridge is a professor of law at UCLA, where he currently teaches Business Associations, Unincorporated Business Associations, and Advanced Corporation Law. In past years, he has also taught Corporate Finance, Securities Regulation, Mergers and Acquisitions, and a seminar on corporate governance. Professor Bainbridge previously taught at the University of Illinois Law School (1988-1996), where the Class of 1990 gave him the "Best Instructor Award." He has also taught at Harvard Law School as the Joseph Flom Visiting Professor of Law and Business (2000-2001), and at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo (1999).

Professor Bainbridge is a prolific scholar, whose work covers a variety of subjects, but with a strong emphasis on the law and economics of public corporations. He has written over 40 law review articles, which have appeared in such leading journals as the Virginia Law Review, the Northwestern University Law Review, the Cornell Law Review, the Stanford Law Review and the Vanderbilt Law Review. Bainbridge’s most recent books include: Business Associations: Cases and Materials on Agency, Partnerships, and Corporations, (5th ed. 2003) (with Klein and Ramseyer); Corporation Law and Economics (2002); Agency, Partnerships, and Limited Liability Entities: Cases and Materials on Unincorporated Business Associations (2001) (with Klein and Ramseyer); Securities Law-Insider Trading (1999).

UCLA Law Prof Stephen Bainbridge presents his observations on Sarbanes-Oxley

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National Association of State Boards of Accountancy proposes tighter scrutiny of audit reviews

CPA firms doing compilations, reviews or audits could get closer scrutiny under model rules proposed by Nashville-based National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.

Under the new rules, firms would be required to report adverse quality-control reviews of their operations to state licensing boards, which have the power to initiate enforcement proceedings. In addition, individual CPAs would have to apprise the licensing boards of any civil charges brought against them in instances of fraud, violation of standards of practice or misappropriation of funds.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as well as best practices recommended by NASBA to all state boards based on actions already undertaken by some states, were instrumental in bringing about the model rules. The Tennessee State Board of Accountancy has not adopted the rules yet, but is looking into them, says Linda Biek, executive director of Tennessee State Board of Accountancy. The rules were brought before a review committee during the board's Aug. 23 meeting. Because of confidentiality restrictions in place, a series of steps must be taken at the state level to loosen those restrictions, so Tennessee probably won't adopt the model rules for a couple of years.

National Association of State Boards of Accountancy proposes tighter scrutiny of audit reviews

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Treasury official to discuss U.S. tax policies at FGCU

A top tax policy expert for the U.S. Department of the Treasury is scheduled to meet with area business and community leaders at Florida Gulf Coast University on Friday, Sept. 24. Gregory F. Jenner, the acting assistant secretary for tax policy, will address "Three Themes for Business" in his remarks during a Chamber of Southwest Florida luncheon. Jenner's topics are expected to include tax reform, shelters and simplification, accounting issues and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Jenner has supervisory responsibility for legal advice and analysis provided by the Office of Tax Policy regarding all aspects of domestic and international issues of federal taxation, including legislative proposals, regulatory guidance and tax treaties.

Treasury official to discuss U.S. tax policies at FGCU

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PCAOB's Gradison: Two Standards May Not Be Workable

Predicting that “powerful” forces within the profession may ultimately lead the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s standards to become the standards for non-issuers as well, board member Willis “Bill” Gradison may have, at least temporarily, doused the ongoing debate about the need for differential standards.

In remarks before attendees at a Sarbanes-Oxley conference here, Gradison said that while the “Big GAAP-Little GAAP debate is alive and well,” it may not “be workable to train and supervise an audit staff on two separate sets of standards.”

“For non-SEC issuers, there are areas such as exit strategies and acquisitions, where it may not necessarily make sense for two standards,” Gradison said. “Then you could have cases where customers tell their suppliers to follow the [PCAOB] standards.”

PCAOB's Gradison: Two Standards May Not Be Workable

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Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Jefferson Wells and Axentis Partner to Provide a Robust, Sustainable Sarbanes-Oxley Solution

Axentis, Inc., a leading provider of Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) software and Jefferson Wells International, Inc., a global provider of professional services in the areas of risk, controls, compliance, tax and financial process improvement, today announced that the companies have partnered to deliver a sustainable, real-time solution to help enterprises more easily manage the recurring processes required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The joint solution will ensure that companies make timely, educated decisions with regards to Sarbanes-Oxley which favorably impact shareholder value and improve productivity.

Jefferson Wells and Axentis Partner to Provide a Robust, Sustainable Sarbanes-Oxley Solution

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The Impact Of Sarbanes-Oxley On Private Companies

[Editor's note: Free registration required for full article.]

More than three-quarters (77%) of the private organizations responding to the study indicated that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or other corporate governance reform requirements have impacted their organizations.

The Impact Of Sarbanes-Oxley On Private Companies (14/09/04) from Mondaq:

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Constellation Brands Selects OpenPages SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

OpenPages, a leading provider of enterprise governance, risk and compliance management solutions, today announced that Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B) has selected OpenPages Sarbanes-Oxley Express (SOX Express) for its Section 302 and 404 compliance initiatives.


Headquartered in Fairport, New York, Constellation Brands is a leading international producer and marketer of beverage alcohol brands with a broad portfolio across the wine, imported beer and spirits categories. The company is the largest wine company in the world; the largest multi-category supplier of beverage alcohol in the United States; a leading producer and exporter of wine from Australia and New Zealand; and a major producer and independent drinks wholesaler in the United Kingdom. With over 200 beverage alcohol brands, Constellation Brands has an unmatched breadth, offering consumers their beverage of choice, no matter what the occasion. The company operates over 43 production facilities, has close to 7,500 employees and sells its products in more than 60 countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, as well as in Australia and New Zealand.

Constellation Brands will deploy SOX Express to streamline its internal control documentation and testing processes across all of its locations. It will enable the collection of information regarding ongoing business controls deployment and monitoring, resulting in a reduction of compliance costs. By combining a strong document repository with powerful compliance automation capabilities, SOX Express will facilitate both project management and compliance, using web-based tools to get users up to speed quickly.

Constellation Brands Selects OpenPages SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Webinar - SOX: Creating & Maintaining Internal Controls

A recent study on compliance commissioned by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that less than a quarter of senior executives from financial institutions feel confident that their organization is in full compliance with regulatory requirements for internal controls. An unexpectedly low rate considering the November deadline for Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act.

This complimentary webinar (September 16, 2004) will discuss how real-time data auditing can help organizations rapidly and cost-effectively meet the internal controls requirements of SOX, in particular, Sections 404, 409, and 802. This webinar will also address the selection criteria for a data auditing solution, what timeframe organizations can expect to implement an effective internal controls plan, and what benefits organizations can expect to gain, beyond compliance, including improved financial accountability and strengthened investor, stakeholder, and public confidence.

Webinar - SOX: Creating & Maintaining Internal Controls

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Sarb-Ox Docs Cost a Lot More Than People Think

AMR Research Inc. in Boston estimates that the average company will blow through about $1 million in Sarbanes-Oxley costs per $1 billion in revenue, just to do what analyst John Hagerty calls "a document exercise" that organizes everything for their auditors. Worse, unlike Y2k, which was a one-time crunch, compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is an annual event like tax preparations -- but possibly even less fun.

What contributes greatly to the cost, observes Neal Selvin, chief marketing officer at Vienna, Va.-based Approva Corp., is the fact that "auditors have homegrown rule books, and they don't have to tell customers what they're looking for." So companies search hither and yon for every conceivable compliance-related document because they don't want to get into hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which Selvin predicts "will make an example of a few people to prove that SOX has teeth." How? Delisting companies from stock exchanges could be a popular punishment among the SEC's lawyers. And sending executives to jail likely will continue to be a crowd pleaser with them.

If you're not already prepping for your audit, well, good luck. But you can still call Selvin. He claims that his software, BizRights 2.1, is based on real rules, written by real auditors whom Approva has lured away from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and other firms. BizRights currently works with any SAP installation, but in early 2005 Approva will add PeopleSoft's applications to its auditing prowess. Starting at $100,000, BizRights isn't cheap - but it costs less than doing it yourself, it appears.

Sarb-Ox Docs Cost a Lot More ...

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Asking James Goodnight: What is the single most challenging Sarbanes-Oxley issue today?

Dr. James (Jim) Goodnight is chief executive officer of SAS, the world's largest privately held software company. Chief executive since the company's incorporation in 1976, Goodnight has overseen an unbroken chain of revenue growth, an exceedingly rare record in the boom-and-bust software industry. Goodnight is the chief architect of the company's renowned corporate culture. SAS commits an unrivaled 26 percent of the company's $1 billion in revenues to R&D each year, and its employee-friendly policies contribute to an industry-low workforce turnover rate of less than 4 percent a year.

Goodnight believes that the biggest challenge of Sarbanes-Oxley for organizations is the issue of transparency. The need for defined business processes and procedures as well as dissemination of an enterprisewide compliance strategy within an organization is key - from the finance department through the entire enterprise.

Asking James Goodnight: What is the single most challenging Sarbanes-Oxley issue today?

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Jobs: Sarbanes Oxley Complaince [sic] Manager at Homestore Inc - Yahoo! HotJobs

[Editor's note: Understanding of "compliance" is required. Being able to spell "compliance" is not required.]

Homestore, Inc. is a leading supplier of media and technology solutions that promote and connect Real Estate Professionals to consumers before, during and after a move. We offer users a convenient, one-stop source for Everything Home on the Internet. including the most comprehensive online database of property listings and real estate service providers, virtual tours, photos, resources, advice, decision support tools, and much more.

Responsibilities include: monitoring company's compliance with SOX requirements, including reviewing documentation and test plans, performing management testing and interaction with internal and external auditors; review, monitoring, and participation in the resolution of new issues arising from the testing of controls and the related remediation plans; liaison with key business areas to ensure changes to business process are updated in the Sarbanes Oxley Compliance database; facilitation of the Section 404 certification process; Sarbanes-Oxley implementation experience (Paisley Software a plus); and demonstrated leadership ability to drive compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley requirements including documentation, testing and Section 404 certification requirements.

Sarbanes Oxley Complaince Manager at Homestore Inc

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Books: Key Controls: The Solution for Sarbanes-Oxley Internal Control Compliance

Sarbanes-Oxley is the most sweeping legislation and set of enhancements to the securities laws since the original Exchange Acts were passed back in 1933 and 1934. Bring key controls to your organization and help ensure Sarbanes Oxley compliance.

This book will: give you the ten best reasons why you need a key controls process; provide you with techniques for identifying, reviewing, and testing key controls; explain why the development of a key controls process is your best solution to address risks, minimize costs and maximize the benefits from your investment; help you understand how to build the most efficient and effective key controls process for your company; and explain why the development of a key controls process is a good management practice and why it should be a best practice.

Book: Key Controls: The Solution for Sarbanes-Oxley Internal Control Compliance

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Jobs: F5 Networks Sarbanes-Oxley Accountant (Internal Auditor) at F5 Networks, Inc

Requirements include: 3-5 years accounting experience (preferably in a big 4 CPA firm doing audits of
publicly traded companies). Familiar with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, specifically
Section 404. Willingness to travel internationally on short-term assignments.
Because this position has high visibility to senior management we expect strong
business acumen, excellent organization and project management skills, ability
to work with diverse cultures and strong communication skills including both
written and verbal. Strong leadership potential and can provide technical
expertise in Internal Controls and possibly external reporting.

F5 Networks Sarbanes-Oxley Accountant (Internal Auditor) at F5 Networks, Inc

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Monday, September 13, 2004

Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Compliance Solutions from SoftLanding Systems, Inc.

"TurnOver and SoftMenu played a big part in our preparations for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. They're always very strong during audits -- they're never challenged."

— Jerry Bell, Director of Systems Development, Oshkosh B'Gosh Inc.

In 2002, the United States Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requiring all public companies conducting business in the United States to have financial control systems in place and operational by November 15, 2004 (or July 15, 2005 if the capital valuation is less than $75M).

These systems are meant to minimize the possibility of "cookin' the books" by, among other things, tracking what changes have been made to data and software, who made them, and when. What's more, CEOs/CFOs must certify quarterly that these controls are in place and functional, and annual reports must include validation of those controls by outside auditors.

Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Compliance Solutions from SoftLanding Systems, Inc.

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Books: A Capital Idea - Why it just might make sense to do more than Sarbanes-Oxley mandates

Few will publicly admit it, but many have come to view the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as an unwelcome requirement. Cost, effort and energy poured into complying with new regulations, all caused by a tiny minority of unethical individuals. Most will agree that the law was needed to restore investor confidence. But few will acknowledge that they themselves need it. Or can benefit from it. This is someone else's problem — and, like schoolyard justice, the whole class gets punished.

The public markets, however, are sending a different message. And it is a loud one. They are rewarding companies that have good governance and high financial IQ (Information Quality = Transparency, Timeliness, Accuracy and Reliability) — and punishing those that don't. So while everyone else is resigned to complying with the letter of the law, astute leaders are going further, and responding to the spirit of the law. They have figured out that Sarbanes-Oxley is also about good business and shareholder value.

This book may give you tips on compliance or help you better understand the legislation. But ultimately, it is intended to give you a peek at the rewards that lie beyond the requirements, so you can decide if it is worth changing your mind (and your approach) to Sarbox. Learn more from the following nine tips or read the entire book, available as a PDF file attachment at the bottom of this page.

Book: A Capital Idea - Why it just might make sense to do more than Sarbanes-Oxley mandates

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Boosting Overseas Revenues Through Foreign Exchange

The move toward point-of-sale currency conversion isn't the only change afoot in the fx realm. Public companies' fx management strategies are shifting in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Before the passage of the act, companies were required to report only the total number of their foreign transactions along with their average cost. Now, however, businesses must provide detailed information for each transaction, including the original value in local currency. As a result, many organizations are moving toward centralized foreign exchange operations and in-house hedging.

"You can't manage what you don't know," says Renée McKenzie, senior vice president and practice leader in the Atlanta offices of Wachovia Treasury & Financial Consulting. "Centralization provides a good global picture of where the money is and enables companies to figure out how they can pay themselves and reduce exposure, which leads to netting arrangements. All foreign offices let corporate headquarters know what their payments and receivables are, and corporate will net out and say, 'Hey, you owe this much in this currency.' That way you don't have all external hedges with everyone doing a one-off."

Boosting Overseas Revenues Through Foreign Exchange

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How to Profit From Compliance Spending

Tallies of corporate governance expenditures post-Sarbanes-Oxley are trickling in, and -- surprise, surprise -- companies are paying more for compliance-related technology, staffing and external service providers, and for their boards of directors, than they paid last year. But some businesses are weaving a silver lining into the fabric of compliance initiatives by using their rising investment to achieve process and efficiency returns that surpass the obligatory goal of meeting governance standards. EMC Corp. used the process documentation resulting from its compliance efforts to help plan a new strategy to better meet customer needs. And Owens Corning transformed its Section 404 project into a formal process-improvement initiative that is identifying best practices and standardizing finance processes in 115 manufacturing plants worldwide.

The majority of public companies seem to be postponing necessary compliance activities right up until Section 404 deadlines begin taking effect at the end of November. But it's not too late to generate extra returns on this required investment. To do so, finance executives must get a handle on their organization's current and future governance spending.

How to Profit From Compliance Spending

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The Accounts Payable Network - Sarbanes-Oxley, Controls and Accounts Payable

The Accounts Payable Network has assembled a group of tools to assist members in the review and documentation of their policies and internal controls, beginning with what have long proven to be among the most popular of the downloadable templates on the site, the AP policy manual templates.

The series of AP policy manual templates provides the basis to develop an accounts payable policy manual, but also can be used as is often the case, as a basis of comparison for companies’ existing manuals. The policy manual templates were developed in accordance with GAAP, and in view of Sarbanes-Oxley.

The Accounts Payable Network - Sarbanes-Oxley, Controls and Accounts Payable

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Events: The Forgotten Sarbanes-Oxley Risk: Implementing Optimized Capex Finance Processes for Compliance and Savings

Many Fortune 2000 and mid-tier companies have a risky, hidden process gap that is leaving executives open to financial losses, auditing errors and compliance failures: capital expenditure finance. Since capex finance is often distributed, ad hoc and not a direct responsibility of any department or function, it can be an "out of sight, out of mind" issue for many senior financial executives. Without visibility into and effective control of capex finance processes, they and their companies are at risk.

Event: The Forgotten Sarbanes-Oxley Risk: Implementing Optimized Capex Finance Processes for Compliance and Savings

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SmartAdvice: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Is Ongoing, So Prepare For Now And In Future

Getting ready for Sarbanes-Oxley will test whether your company can meet the act's compliance guidelines for financial and IT controls, The Advisory Council says. Also, look for a general collaboration app when you decide to implement supply-chain forecasts; and use dashboard tools to manage outsourcing contracts for more control and greater ROI.

SmartAdvice: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Is Ongoing, So Prepare For Now And In Future

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ManSims: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Workshop

ManSims is pleased to introduce the new Sarbanes-Oxley and 404 Compliance Workshop as a unique offering in the market. Now, through one intensive Three Day Workshop, you can participant in the only educational immersion that fuses the high-powered training environment of Business Management Simulation with the distilled knowledge of Sarbanes-Oxley.

We have invested thousands of hours, bringing together dozens of experts across disciplines, to extract the most current body of knowledge on Sarbanes-Oxley and 404 Compliance. Then, tightly integrating that knowledge base and its practical application into our Management Simulation software, we’ve birthed what we believe to be the highest impact SOX tool on the planet.

The Simulation has participants work through an actual Sarbanes-Oxley § 404 Compliancy Implementation, putting the knowledge, skills and techniques learned to work in a real life setting. You don’t just learn What to do, you learn How and you Do it. The feedback loop of seeing the responses to and outcomes of your decisions, repeated on a weekly basis over 26 weeks in the Simulation, is our Holy Grail of Learning. You’ll make mistakes, without them costing you your (real) job or the Company anything but its (virtual) success. You’ll have directed the complete Sarbanes-Oxley and 404 Compliancy Project for one organization, and you’ll be infinitely more qualified to do your next one!

ManSims: Sarbanes Oxley Compliance Workshop

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Tools: BindView Corporation - Policy Compliance Solutions

BindView Standards Compliance and Regulatory Compliance helps organizations automatically measure compliance against industry-standards at any time, creating a state of "audit on-demand" against a variety of security standards, including Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, GLBA, COBIT and the CIS Benchmarks.

Tools: BindView Corporation - Policy Compliance Solutions

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Plugging into SarbOx

A raft of misdeeds have undermined the public's trust in the way corporations do business. Enron, HealthSouth, WorldCom and others have been caught in frauds of great proportion, leading to the adoption of new standards for accountability in business practices. Notable among these standards is the Sarbanes-Oxley (SarbOx) Act.

The problem bears some superficial resemblance to the Y2K data conversion problem of the late 1990s, if only for the diversity of solutions providers that are on the case. Like Y2K, SarbOx had a hard stop -- a deadline by which it had to be accomplished. But this feast has proved movable -- and rolling. Different sections of SarbOx have different compliance deadlines. SarbOx Section 302 was the first and most public step. It required CEOs to sign off on the veracity of financial numbers.

Each step of the way, forward-looking development and integration teams will need to judge the role IT governance plays within the larger picture of corporate governance. This means ensuring that IT does what it says it will do, and that the data is truthful.

The move to better business control systems has been enabled to some degree by the increasingly popular Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in 1992. Adepts call it "COSO."

"COSO has been a method enabling the convergence of IT governance and corporate governance," noted Bowles.

Plugging into SarbOx

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Tools: Stellent, Inc. - Sarbanes Oxley

To meet the critical need for organizations to comply with this legislation, Stellent provides a unique solution, based on our enterprise-class content management products, which enables CFOs and compliance teams to quickly deploy an intuitive, Web-based solution with which to track their Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. The Stellent Sarbanes-Oxley Solution is a part of Stellent’s Corporate Governance offering, which includes support for other compliance standards such as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Tool: Stellent, Inc. - Sarbanes Oxley

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Sunday, September 12, 2004

Jobs: Sarbanes Oxley Auditor - TEMP at Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc.

[Editor's note: You get this gig through us and we get to hit you up for an employee discount.]

KENNETH COLE PRODUCTIONS, INC. designs and markets a broad range of premium-quality footwear, handbags and a variety of apparel and accessory products for the fashion conscious consumer. The products are sold through Kenneth Cole retail and outlet stores, catalogs, department stores, specialty stores and on the Internet. We are currently seeking an energetic, detail-oriented individual with strong communications skills to join our Internal Audit team based in Secaucus, NJ.

Job: Sarbanes Oxley Auditor - TEMP at Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc.

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Jobs: Accounting Specialist - Sarbanes Oxley Compliance

Valero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio with approximately 20,000 employees and expected revenues of $50 billion. One of the top U.S. refining companies, Valero has an extensive refining system with a throughput capacity of more than 2.4 million barrels per day. The company's geographically diverse refining network stretches from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast and West Coast to the Caribbean.

The Accounting Specialist assists the Sarbanes Oxley Compliance director with ensuring that the company remains in compliance with its internal accounting controls. Updates and administers the web-based tool used by the company to document internal controls and accounting processes and to monitor ongoing compliance with internal controls by the controls owners. Works with the accounting policies and procedures group to ensure that internal controls are updated in a timely manner to reflect changes in policies and procedures.
Job: Accounting Specialist - Sarbanes Oxley Compliance

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Silicon Graphics Reveals Controls Fault

The revelation comes about two months before new rules that require companies to identify, document, and test their internal controls officially go into effect. In addition, under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, their auditors will also be required to attest that their client’s internal controls are up to snuff. The company is in the process of identifying and testing its internal controls in order to comply with 404 and has made internal-controls changes as a result, according to the 10-K.

Silicon Graphics Reveals Controls Fault

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Saturday, September 11, 2004

SAS 70

Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 70, Service Organizations, is an internationally recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). A SAS 70 audit or service auditor's examination is widely recognized, because it represents that a service organization has been through an in-depth audit of their control activities, which generally include controls over information technology and related processes. In today's global economy, service organizations or service providers must demonstrate that they have adequate controls and safeguards when they host or process data belonging to their customers. In addition, the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 make SAS 70 audit reports even more important to the process of reporting on effective internal controls at service organizations.

SAS70.com is the first Internet resource fully dedicated to the SAS 70 auditing standard and third-party assurance for service organizations. This site has been developed to provide the public with general information on SAS 70 and related topics.

SAS 70

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COSO: The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission

COSO was originally formed in 1985 to sponsor the National Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, an independent private sector initiative which studied the causal factors that can lead to fraudulent financial reporting and developed recommendations for public companies and their independent auditors, for the SEC and other regulators, and for educational institutions.

COSO: The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission

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Keeping watch on Corporate America

Nell Minow has never been afraid to confront the power brokers in Corporate America, first as a fund manager and more recently as a watchdog waving red flags about excessive executive pay, questionable accounting or other corporate-governance sins. Despite Sarbanes-Oxley, corporate financial statements can still be difficult for investors to understand. Minow said that getting a clear picture of operating earnings is hard if companies blend in unrelated items such as pension surpluses. In addition, she said that it should be mandatory for companies to disclose the costs of stock options on their balance sheets.

Keeping watch on Corporate America

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Self Study: Becoming Familiar with Audit Standard 2 (3 CPE)

404 Institute - a site developed by KPMG for education and information relative to SOX, now offers a self-study module on the PCAOB Audit Standard 2. Review and successful completion of the module is recognized by some states for 3 CPE credits.

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SOX 104 - Commentary on Big Four Inspections

With the recently released results of the limited 2003 inspections of the Big Four under section 104 of Sarbanes-Oxley, critics are quick to point out the degree of political spin that has been injected into the findings.

One point of view on these findings from Melissa Klein Aguilar, from WebCPA.com.

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PCAOB Releases Big Four Inspection

PCAOB - Section 104 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires the Board to conduct a continuing program of inspections of registered public accounting firms. A common theme among the reviews was concern over the quality control aspects of their auditing and accounting practices.

Limited Inspection reports for 2003 reviews now available:

• KPMG
• PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Deloitte & Touche
• Ernst & Young

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Jobs: Financial Analyst

At RadiSys, we lead the industry in providing the end-to-end solutions that enable next generation Internet, communications, industrial automation, medical equipment, and transaction terminal applications.

In this position, you will prepare monthly and daily journal entries, reconciliations and account analysis for cash, fixed assets, investments, prepaid assets, other assets, intercompany accounts, payroll, and other liabilities. This includes performing duties related to Sarbanes Oxley 404 testing and documentation, including working with outside accountants.

Sarbanes Oxley Job: Financial Analyst

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Jobs: Accounting Project Manager

Monster Worldwide, Inc., the parent company of the leading global online careers property, Monster®, the world's largest Yellow Pages advertising agency and one of the world's largest Recruitment Advertising agency networks is a growing company offering exciting and challenging career opportunities in a fast-paced environment.

The Milwaukee Finance Division is looking for a highly motivated and proven Accounting professional to be responsible for a wide range of Accounting and Auditing functions. We are looking for someone who possesses a "Can Do" attitude, is driven and has strong analytical and technical skills. This Project Manager serves as a catalyst for change, improving our existing accounting/business processes and ensuring that all projects are completed in a timely fashion.

The major areas of responsibility includes but is not limited to coordination of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

Job: Accounting Project Manager

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Jobs: Senior Manager of Treasury & Tax at Ocean Spray

As a grower cooperative, Ocean Spray was founded on the ideals of teamwork. Our 2,000 employees around the world share an attitude to win - for ourselves, for this great brand and for the growers who own the company. At Ocean Spray, we provide a professionally rewarding environment that celebrates results and new ideas. We enjoy friendship, community and an informal work environment. Ocean Spray is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer/AAP/M/F/V/D.

The successful candidate will have a Master"s degree in Accounting or Finance or MBA with 10 years" of accounting and treasury experience. A proven track record of meeting DSO targets and thorough understanding and application of GAAP required. An understanding of qualified, non-qualified and defined benefit plans, as well as Sarbanes-Oxley disclosure requirements essential. CPA or CTP preferred with hands-on experience managing a tax department strongly preferred. Experience restructuring/consolidating cash management services a plus.

Job: Senior Manager of Treasury & Tax at Ocean Spray

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Friday, September 10, 2004

Events: Designing an IT Security Program for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance issues can be overwhelming and difficult to understand. What is really needed to implement SOX formally? This session will help you identify the Sarbanes Oxley program requirements and the building blocks to maintain compliance. It will interactively guide you through a template to take away with you to start or update your program. Topics of discussion will include: outlining the fundamentals of Sarbanes Oxley and what it means to IT Security; breaking SOX down to steps that have to be implemented by the IT Security department; and insights on the best staffing methods to achieve results in your IT program.

This is an excellent session to guide you in implementing Sarbanes Oxley for your IT shop. IT executives will gain a clear understanding of how to break Sarbanes Oxley down into a manageable program that is organized to their own priorities and business.

Event Designing an IT Security Program for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Examining the Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Developments Concerning International Convergence

The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs met in open session to conduct a hearing on “Examining the Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Developments Concerning International Convergence.” View the session in streaming video or review the transcripts of testimony in PDF.

Examining the Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Developments Concerning International Convergence

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Tools: Tenrox Unveils Release 8.3 of its Operational Control & Compliance Software Platform

Tenrox today announced the availability of Release 8.3 featuring advanced integration with all major financial and project management applications, as well as enhanced project and portfolio governance capabilities for more effective internal control, rapid reporting, and compliance with regulations including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Release 8.3 is a modular, integrated operational control and compliance software offering workforce management, time and billing, expense reporting, invoicing/charge back, project accounting and business process management.

Tool: Tenrox Unveils Release 8.3 of its Operational Control & Compliance Software Platform

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Battle Intensifies Over Executive Bonuses

There is also recourse provided under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the corporate reform law passed two years ago by Congress in the wake of business scandals. Under section 304, CEOs and CFOs are required to return any bonus or profits from stock sales should their companies be involved in a financial restatement due to misconduct.

Battle Intensifies Over Executive Bonuses

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Despite backlash, study backs Sarbanes-Oxley results

[Editor's note: A study shows the positive effects of SOX, but are those effects worth the price?]

Since we inhabit a far-from-perfect world where the actions of thousands of executives, auditors and others can be directed by law but never controlled, it makes sense to weigh some statistical evidence about changes in corporate practices. The bottom line: the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform act passed in 2002 appears to have put more U.S. companies on sound governance tracks.

Despite backlash, study backs Sarbanes-Oxley results

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Tools: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Software Solution: Movaris Certainty

Movaris Certainty is an easy-to-use, web-based, enterprise-class application that addresses the key challenges of on-going compliance, beyond the initial documentation effort. However, Certainty is more than just a Sarbanes-Oxley software application. While managing all phases of compliance, Certainty also creates a foundation for improved financial control management.

Certainty documents financial controls, provides a comprehensive testing and review environment, initiates pre-built action plans designed to improve the control environment, and produces necessary compliance reports for Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 and Section 302 on demand. Combined, these four phases create an environment that enforces accountability across the entire enterprise, and reduces the time and costs of on-going compliance, year after year.

Tool: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Software Solution: Movaris Certainty

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Sarbanes-Oxley: Road to Compliance

[Editor's note: A little dated, but still informative. Compare the projections to the actuals. Did they underestimate or not?]

Tom Martin, audit operations manager for Boise Cascade Corp., in Boise, Idaho, said his company has yet to determine how much it will spend on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, but estimates it will include 20,000 auditor-hours this year, after recording 17,000 auditor-hours on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance last year.

Sarbanes-Oxley: Road to Compliance

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Tools: MAPICS Sarbanes-Oxley Solutions

Decrease your escalating compliance costs and training issues, and meet the requirements of SOA - certification, disclosure and timely reporting - by leveraging your existing MAPICS solution! We provide the documentation and control solution for compliance, enabling you to support improved accuracy, visibility, disclosure and speed.

Tool: MAPICS Sarbanes-Oxley Solutions

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Planning an IT Audit for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

Because the Enron and WorldCom scandals got so much attention, and because the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 affects every public company—and many small companies are voluntarily complying—a great deal of money is being spent on compliance. In fact, in excess of $2.5 billion is expected to be spent on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance-related work in 2004 alone (source: AMR Research).

Approximately 20% of that cost is expected to relate directly to IT systems work—in fact, a survey of 60 Fortune 1,000 companies found 85% of companies predicting that Sarbanes-Oxley will require significant changes in IT and application infrastructure. Section 404 of Sarbanes, the section most likely to involve IT auditors, is extremely rigorous, mandating an annual management assessment of internal controls and procedures for financial reporting and requiring an independent auditor to attest to management's assessment.

Planning an IT Audit for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Sarbanes-Oxley: What IT needs to know

Join Network World Senior Editor Ann Bednarz and Events Editor Sandra Gittlen as they outline what IT managers must do today to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and how they can manage their systems going forward. Learn about the tools available to help IT organizations stay in the clear.

Sarbanes-Oxley: What IT needs to know

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Deloitte & Touche resigns as ActivCard's accounting firm

"We have begun interviewing other accounting firms to replace Deloitte and although the change in accounting firms will likely cause some delay in our financial reporting and internal control testing and may impact our ability to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by the end of 2004, we do not expect there to be any long-term impact from this change," said Ben C. Barnes, ActivCard's Chief Executive Officer. "There have been no disagreements between ActivCard and Deloitte on any accounting or financial reporting matters and Deloitte has indicated that it will assist with the transition to a new accounting firm. We look forward to establishing a good relationship with our new auditors and to finding an accounting firm that is able to assist us following our recent restructuring initiatives."

Deloitte & Touche resigns as ActivCard's accounting firm

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Sarbanes-Oxley: Insurmountable Hurdle for Small Business?

[Editor's note: Agree? Disagree? Let us know.]

In its inimitable fashion, Congress did go overboard in writing SOX. Why is this? First, the white-collar crime provisions in the Act were already on the books. They only had to be enforced. Second, Congress left the public companies in the lurch as far as compliance was concerned. Section 404 clearly lacks specific standards for compliance. When these standards are written, accounting costs will begin to subside. The final 404 procedures are what audit firms need. In the meantime, accountants are well served if they work closely with the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) when they are uncertain of how to deal with certain key issues.

Sarbanes-Oxley: Insurmountable Hurdle for Small Business?

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Internal Audit's Sarbox Role

The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) has trotted out a position paper recommending the role internal auditors should play in a corporation's compliance with Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While Sarbox spells out the roles of management, audit committees, and external auditors, it's silent on the parts internal auditors must play, the trade group stresses.

Internal Audit's Sarbox Role

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Jobs: Senior Consultant, Sarbanes Oxley at BearingPoint

BearingPoint is currently expanding its Financial Services team in California. As a Sr. Consultant you will deliver solutions to help out clients better manage their accounting areas. BearingPoint will provide you the opportunity to translate your prior audit and accounting background to an exciting management consulting career. Prior experience developing audit plans, testing controls and working with Sarbanes Oxley are desirable as well as superior communications skills, ability to build relationships and sound business judgment. Financial Services industry experience and a CPA will be considered as pluses.

Job: Senior Consultant, Sarbanes Oxley at BearingPoint

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Jobs: Associate Manager, Internal Control at Frito-Lay, Inc.

This position is primarily responsible for ensuring FLNAs compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
This position is also responsible for baseline and project accountabilities including documenting FLNAs significant business processes, identify "key" financial controls, develop test plans for control testing for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and monitoring Sarbanes-Oxley testing and the remediation of gaps identified

Job: Associate Manager, Internal Control at Frito-Lay, Inc.

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Jobs: Manager - Risk Management at Pepsi Bottling Group

The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) is the world's largest manufacturer, seller and distributor of Pepsi-Cola beverages - some of the world's most recognized consumer brands. PBG is a fast-paced, customer-focused company, with an entrepreneurial spirit. The company is an equal opportunity employer and values the diversity of its workforce. The main responsibility of this position is to lead the IT function in assessing IT related risks & cost/benefits, and building/executing cross-functional plans to mitigate those risks. Position will have broad responsibility to set and lead the agenda for risk management. Provide regular reports to the CIO and IT Senior team on risks and mitigation strategies. Lead the IT function in driving all external compliance requirements including Information Risk Management Audit and Sarbanes Oxley. Drive key planning projects, including the IT 3-5 year strategic plan, organization strategy, application and technology roadmap.

Job: Manager - Risk Management at Pepsi Bottling Group

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Books: The Sarbanes-Oxley Deskbook

Written by the coordinator of Sullivan & Cromwell's securities law division, the new Sarbanes-Oxley Deskbook is todays most comprehensive and current one-stop guide to the far-reaching public company governance, disclosure, and reporting reforms triggered by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and related SEC, NYSE, and NASD initiatives. Designed to help attorneys, directors, officers, accountants, auditors, and research analysts, The Sarbanes-Oxley Deskbook offers you a uniquely clear understanding of these daunting new requirements and the procedures you must implement to ensure full, problem-free compliance. Covers strict CEO/CFO certification standards, expanded prohibitions on non-audit services, new bans on loans to insiders, new attorney up-the-ladder disclosure requirements, and other mandates.

Book: The Sarbanes-Oxley Deskbook

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Books: Practical Guide to Corporate Governance and Accounting: Implementing the Requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2004

Over the past year, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an unprecedented number of regulations to interpret the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. These regulations affect attorneys, public accountants, management, broker-dealers, boards of directors and audit committees. In addition, the newly formed Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued its initial batch of rules to regulate the accounting industry. As a result, this past year, following the enactment of Sarbanes-Oxley, will truly be known as the year of regulation for corporate governance and all aspects of financial reporting.

Book: Practical Guide to Corporate Governance and Accounting: Implementing the Requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2004

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Books: The Sarbanes-Oxley Guide for Finance and Information Technology Professionals

According to the dust jacket, this book is "The most comprehensive, authoritative guide to getting your organization Sarbanes-Oxley compliant."

Book: The Sarbanes-Oxley Guide for Finance and Information Technology Professionals

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Tools: ECORA for Sarbanes-Oxley

Automate your data collection to give auditors documented evidence of data storage, protection, and internal controls. Enterprise Auditor is a powerful, cross-platform configuration reporting and change management software. It automates the detailed reporting of 1,000’s of configuration settings across your business critical operating systems, applications, databases, and networking devices. The ECORA solution provides you with a wide variety of timely reports for disaster recovery, tracking changes, security, IT audits, and meeting compliance standards.

Tools: ECORA for Sarbanes-Oxley

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Thursday, September 09, 2004

NAMIC Targets Corporate Governance, Market Conduct, Securities Ratings, and Credit Scoring at NAIC Meeting

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) will advocate its positions on corporate governance, market conduct, securities ratings, and credit scoring during the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Fall National Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, Saturday through Tuesday.

NAMIC Targets Corporate Governance, Market Conduct, Securities Ratings, and Credit Scoring at NAIC Meeting

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Events: 404 Institute Begins 'Countdown to Compliance'; Looming Sarbanes-Oxley Deadline Concerns to be Addressed

The 404 Institute, an open forum for the marketplace to discuss leading practices to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, today launched "Countdown to Compliance," designed to provide corporate executives with resources to help meet looming Section 404 and other compliance deadlines. As part of the Countdown aimed especially at companies that close their books after Nov. 15, 2004, the 404 Institute plans a series of educational and informational programs for executives, including topical, hour-long Webcasts and Web-based presentations on compliance issues.

Event: 404 Institute Begins 'Countdown to Compliance'; Looming Sarbanes-Oxley Deadline Concerns to be Addressed

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Tools: Governwise

Governwise is a due-diligence review of corporate financial, compliance, strategic, operational and control risks It includes creating the processes necessary for compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Governwise approach is to guide and Train company personnel in the process so that once established, the Compliance process is in place for all subsequent reporting cycles.

Tool: Governwise

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Jobs: Sarbanes Oxley Project Lead, Spanish Bilingual at Intel - Hillsboro, OR

As a member of the Finance team, you will act as a full partner in making and supporting business decisions that are aimed at maximizing shareholder value. You'll work hand-in-hand with your business partners to drive sound business decisions. Responsibilities In this position you will take a leading role in helping to establish control standards within Finance. Initially the primary focus will be to lead a financial area to ensure that sufficient financial reporting process documentation, controls and testing exist to enable independent control attestation and compliance with Sarbanes Oxley legislation by end of this year.

Job: Sarbanes Oxley Project Lead at Intel - Hillsboro, OR

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Jobs: Sarbanes Oxley Facilitator at Ingersoll-Rand

Ingersoll-Rand is a leading global innovation and solutions provider for the major global markets of Climate Control, Industrial Solutions, Infrastructure, and Security and Safety. The Climate Control division provides equipment and service to manger controlled temperature environments for food and other perishables, and includes stationary and transport refrigeration solutions marketed under such leading brands as Thermo King and Hussmann Corporation. The responsibilities of this job are two-fold. 75% of efforts/time will be focused on business process excellence activities including Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and audit services follow-up. 25% of efforts/time will be focused on month-end financial reporting within the Climate Control sector.

Job: Sarbanes Oxley Facilitator - Bridgeton, MO

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Books: Best Practices for Sarbanes-Oxley Implementation

In a challenging business environment fraught with new rules, financial executives are clearly assuming a lead role to ensure that both existing and new practices comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("the Act"). Though much of the final rulemaking mandated by the new laws have yet to be finalized, companies have focused attention toward complying with proposed rulemaking with particular attention in two areas: financial statement certification and internal controls. This paper will summarize practices used for implementing the Act of 2002 based on guidance from and interviews with FEI's Committee on Corporate Reporting (CCR), other FEI member companies and from final rules or proposed rulemaking from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Book: Best Practices for Sarbanes-Oxley Implementation

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Books: Governance and Risk

This all-encompassing book compiled and edited by George Dallas, managing director and global practice leader of Standard & Poor's Governance Services unit. It includes contributions by senior members of Standard & Poor's Governance Services group, as well as from other experts in the area of corporate governance. Governance and Risk presents a balanced and rational approach to one of today's most emotional topics. It also outlines an analytical model for both evaluating the governance practices of individual corporations and protecting yourself or your organization from the effects of incomplete, inaccurate, and potentially misguided practices.

Book: Governance and Risk

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Sarbanes-Oxley Basics for Private Companies & Investors

When the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was signed into law on July 30, 2002 — the most far-reaching legislation sincethe U.S. Securities and Exchange laws of the early 1930s — it set powerful forces into motion. Public company directors, IPO candidates, and investors reacted swiftly. But if you're among the private companies breathing easy out there because you don't think Sarbanes-Oxley affects you,there's big news.

Sarbanes-Oxley Basics for Private Companies & Investors

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Stuck in the SAS 70s

As Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 meets up with an obscure auditing standard, many companies are thinking hard about offshoring their business processes. A little-known and perhaps largely outdated auditing standard for outsourcers could be the next big hurdle for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Not only might the standard cause a number of businesses to run afoul of the Section 404 provisions on internal controls, but it might also dissuade other companies from business process outsourcing in India, China, and other emerging nations.

Stuck in the SAS 70s

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The Rising Cost of Compliance

Take Sarbanes-Oxley: According to AMR Research, companies will spend $5.5 billion in 2004 to meet Sarbox requirements mandated by the federal government for public companies—specifically, requirements related to Section 404, which stipulates how public companies must disclose their financial information. Of that total, nearly $1 billion will be spent on IT, opportuning CIOs to take a leading role in compliance discussions that cover Section 404. And compliance is only going to become a bigger issue for CIOs as Congress passes more legislation governing corporate practices.

The Rising Cost of Compliance

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The Sarbox Effect: Driving Shareholder Value

Creating value for shareholders and owners is the ultimate goal for all public companies. And while compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 may be a legal requirement, many IT executives aren't limiting their work to merely complying with the letter of the law. According to this month's CIO Insight/Gartner EXP survey, 51 percent of companies are also attempting to take advantage of Sarbanes-Oxley initiatives to achieve better business performance. But how? Where, amid the legal language of the act, and the hard work of testing and validating financial controls, does the connection lie between Sarbanes-Oxley and building (as opposed to protecting) shareholder value?

The Sarbox Effect: Driving Shareholder Value

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Tools: DB-Examiner Enterprise Edition

[Editor's note: We're seeing more and more software tools crop up, addressing different aspects of SOX compliance. What do you think of this trend? Is Microsoft Excel enough?]

DB-Examiner Enterprise Edition ensures that a database schema from Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, or Sybase has no flaws that would adversely affect data integrity and consistency. Examiner contains over 50 diagnostic tests to detect errors with the schema. It explains the errors as well as the potential impact. Examiner will make suggestions and create corrective SQL scripts to alleviate the problems. Data retrieved from a validated schema will be of a much higher quality and be far more reliable. When a schema is debugged using DB-Examiner at an early stage, the cost of an application is greatly reduced for both development and maintenance. DB-Examiner automates the mandatory, manual task of validating a new or existing database schema. It is a 'spell checker' for most databases. DB-Examiner pays for itself on the initial use. Examiner is a must have product for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

Tools: DB-Examiner Enterprise Edition

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Jobs: Sarbox jobs via Hudson in the greater New York Area

Hudson is hiring for a variety of positions in the greater New York area. A typical job is described as: Our client requires Sarbanes-Oxley Specialists for a contract position. Responsibilities include reviewing the internal controls over financial reporting, risk management, coordinating the policies and procedures with various departments and identifying and assessing controls. Travel to client's locations necessary.

Sarbox jobs via Hudson in the greater New York Area

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Jobs: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Consultant - Silicon Valley/San Jose

Sunrise Telecom Incorporated is a leading provider of service verification equipment to pre-qualify, verify and diagnose telecommunications, cable broadband, and Internet networks. Our products offer broad functionality, leading-edge technology, and compact size to test a variety of new broadband service connections and associated infrastructure-such as wireline access (including DSL) fiber optics, cable broadband, and signaling networks. THIS POSITION IS FOR A SHORT TERM CONSULTANT PROJECT. Please do not apply if you desire regular employment.

Job: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Consultant - Silicon Valley/San Jose

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Jobs: Sarbanes-Oxley Business Process Risk Consultant - Los Angeles

Good Swartz Brown & Berns LLP is a fifteen-partner multidisciplinary professional services firm. Our firm provides superior service to clients throughout Southern California from our offices in West Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, and our satellite office in San Rafael. The successful candidate will help lead our explosive new service group, the SOX 404 Readiness and Outsource Internal Audit group. The group currently guides clients through the implementation required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This position is located in our San Fernando Valley office.

Job: Sarbanes-Oxley Business Process Risk Consultant - Los Angeles

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Turning Point for Pollution Insurance

But the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, combined with pressure from environmentally minded shareholder activists, could place a much higher premium on precision in environmental reporting. "The stakes are higher under Sarbanes-Oxley," says John Nevius, an attorney who represents corporations for Anderson, Kill & Olick in New York. "The consequences if you get it wrong are greater."

Turning Point for Pollution Insurance

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Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Companies Bill Could Cost UK Companies Millions in ICT Systems Compliance, Says Butler Group

Butler Group's Mike Davis spoke out on the UK Companies Bill and outlined the analyst firm's recommendations to UK companies seeking to attain IT compliance. As with the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the UK Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Bill requires UK companies to invest in key information systems technologies in order to avoid severe financial penalties associated with non-compliance.

Companies Bill Could Cost UK Companies Millions in ICT Systems Compliance, Says Butler Group

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Pack-Rats by Law: A Message Archiving Primer

What have the iPod mini and an e-mail archiving application got in common? The answer is that both are must-have products that everyone who hasn't already should have on the shopping list. iPod minis are just a bit of fun, but there's an important reason for implementing an e-mail archiving system this year: the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, designed to improve the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures, specifies severe punishments for company officers who fail to keep business documents. Although e-mail is often trivialized by its use for personal messaging, the courts regard e-mail (and attachments) - and the even more informal instant messaging - as business documents which must be retained for regulatory compliance. Sarbanes-Oxley specifies that business records should be kept for five years, and those related to audits and business reviews must be kept for seven years.

Pack-Rats by Law: A Message Archiving Primer

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Implementing Sustainable IT Controls for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance and Beyond

Challenges in implementing Section 404 of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act are unfolding in real-time both for accounting and IT business functions. Non-compliance may have severe consequences. Is your IT organization ready? What are common pitfalls IT organizations face as they prepare for compliance and upcoming external audits? How does your organization ensure that the steps it takes now will serve you in the future? What role do well-defined, automated controls play in this process? Join us for an educational one-hour interactive Webinar featuring industry experts Duncan Barnard, Partner, Ernst & Young; and Ray Paquet, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst, Gartner as they share their real-world observations and recommendations for not only surviving Sarbanes-Oxley, but preparing you to cut the cost, time and effort involved with compliance initiatives.

Implementing Sustainable IT Controls for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance and Beyond

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Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Sarbanes-Oxley Act Forum

This interactive community portal is designed to facilitate the exchange of information between those seeking to comply with the requirements of this important legislation. It is also intended to act as a guide, offering useful resources and tips.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act Forum

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The Enforcer

William J. McDonough has a particularly tough job: as chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), he is charged with policing an industry unused to outside regulation and under fire as never before. But judging from his first year on the beat, McDonough won't hesitate to crack down if necessary. The PCAOB's initial inspections of Big Four audits found "significant accounting issues," McDonough recently told Congress. The inspections also identified instances in which they failed to follow generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP (see "Audits: How Bad Is Bad?" at the end of this article). The 70-year-old former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York insists that it is the responsibility of the firms, particularly the Big Four, to "win back the confidence of the American people." But given the depths of the problems and the power of his position, he isn't shy about forcing them to.

The Enforcer

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Do not let up on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance projects, says Gartner

UK companies should not ease up on their IT projects to comply with the evolving demands of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, despite a recent relaxation on the reporting requirements of the corporate governance regulation, analyst firm Gartner has warned.

Do not let up on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance projects, says Gartner

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Friday, September 03, 2004

Sarbox: The Road to Nirvana

[Editor's note: This is a Word doc, but we felt it was worthy of posting. Again, a bit dated. Does it still ring true? Comment below.]

Will regulations really solve the problems of the business world? A discussion prepared for “In the Wake of Corporate Reform: One Year in the Life of Sarbanes-Oxley---A Critical Review,” Michigan State University, September 19, 2003 (ms. December 12, 2003).

Sarbox: The Road to Nirvana

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Sarbanes-Oxley Has Some Publics Thinking Private

[Editor's note: This article was originally published in May of 2004. As the deadline draws nearer, do you think it still rings true? Comment below.]

The increasing cost of complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law has more public companies mulling going private, according to a survey published by the law firm of Foley & Lardner LLP in Chicago. More than 20% of the 115 companies surveyed said they are considering going private as a result of new corporate governance and disclosure reforms, nearly a 50% increase over 2003 survey results. The respondents consisted mostly of small and mid-sized companies with annual revenue under $1 billion.

Sarbanes-Oxley Has Some Publics Thinking Private

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Top Execs Open Their Wallets for SOX

August marks the second anniversary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), yet 84% of top executives at multinational firms are still struggling to comply with its requirements, according to a survey just released by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Among the 177 CFOs and managing directors who responded to the survey, 49 percent describe SOX — as well as new SEC rules and other regulations — as a "major challenge."

Top Execs Open Their Wallets for SOX

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Working Wall Street: Toward better bonuses

The new corporate disclosure law, known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, is bringing compensation under greater public scrutiny, and on Wall Street that means all eyes are on bonuses, which tend to dwarf salaries. Among the requirements of Sarbanes Oxley, which went into effect on Aug. 23, it calls for public companies to publicly disclose hiring details (copies of employment agreements) for their top five executives, as well as for anyone who might have a "material impact" on the bottom line.

Working Wall Street: Toward better bonuses

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Sarbanes-Oxley Can't Revive Dead Claims

Although the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 established more generous time limits for filing securities claims, a federal judge has ruled that the law cannot be used to revive claims for which the previous, shorter time limits had already expired. In her 14-page opinion in L-3 Communications Corp. v. Clevenger, U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody found that none of the federal appellate courts has yet tackled the question, but that numerous district court judges have shown a strong trend -- with just one exception -- against allowing Sarbanes-Oxley to revive previously expired claims.

Sarbanes-Oxley Can't Revive Dead Claims

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Sarbanes-Oxley implementation will mark slow down in financial software sales?

Companies impacted by Sarbanes-Oxley legislation (sic.) have to comply with the legislation from this year forward. There is a view that this will lead to companies halting spending on financial and other software, which assist them in compliance with the legislation. Certainly, this and legislation pertaining to more regulation, compliance and governance has provided a much appreciated boost to sales of financial software, particularly major exchange listed companies with complex business, geographical and functional structures.

Sarbanes-Oxley implementation will mark slow down in financial software sales?

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SOX Wars: CIOs share ideas, fears on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance

Imagine Y2K every year. The very idea would make Stephen King break out in a cold sweat. But that's how some CIOs view the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) -- a pain that doesn't go away after New Year's Day. SOX affects IT more than any other department except finance, according to Braunstein. Sixty-five percent of the attendees at the session said that SOX is having a major impact on them, and 40% said that SOX was a "bet your job" project that would put their jobs on the line every year.

SOX Wars: CIOs share ideas, fears on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance

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Recouping the costs of regulations

When you get put on hold by Nth Orbit — suppliers of compliance solution Certus — you don’t hear generic Muzak. Instead, you’re serenaded by a John Denver wannabe strumming a banjo and crooning, “My bottom line is falling more behind, I’ve got the Sarbanes-Oxley blues.” AMR Research estimates that Sarb-Ox alone will set back companies $5.5 billion in 2004; at the company level, that averages out to $1 million per $1 billion in revenue, according to John Haggerty, vice president at AMR Research.

Recouping the costs of regulations

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Sarbanes-Oxley will require a message-storage rethink

[Editor's Note: Just found this, but it still seems salient.]

The November 2004 compliance deadline for Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley is fast approaching. By that time, companies with valuations of $75 million or more must prove that their internal controls and audit trails are sound and that their processes are capable of producing certifiably correct data. Because there are no real guidelines for Section 404 compliance audit trails, companies have begun taking a broad approach to data storage. According to Dave Donelan, senior director for industry and compliance solutions at EMC, a lot of new data types are falling subject to Section 404. “It’s not just financial records, it is e-mail, voice mail, and video,” Donelan told me.

Sarbanes-Oxley will require a message-storage rethink

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Big-Wigs Outsource Sarbox Compliance

Those in the executive suite are much more likely than line-of-business managers to outsource Sarbanes-Oxley Act (Sarbox) compliance efforts, according to research by Meta Group. Still, enterprises remain unclear on the ways in which Sarbox will affect their business processes, the firm found. "Companies must address the fundamental confusion surrounding the impact of compliance on the organization," said John Van Decker, vice president with Meta Group's enterprise application strategies service.

Big-Wigs Outsource Sarbox Compliance

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One Size Fits All?

"The debate [over little GAAP] has been around for 30 years," says Daniel Noll, the AICPA's director of accounting standards. What's made it more pressing now, he explains, is that since Sarbanes-Oxley, some smaller firms believe that "GAAP focuses more on public companies." Moreover, it is not clear that lenders and investors actually find GAAP reporting at private companies relevant to their decision-making process.

One Size Fits All?

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Varsity Group Inc. Announces Appointment of Robert M. Holster to Board of Directors

The Company also announced that Mr. Holster will serve on the Company's audit committee as an independent audit committee financial expert as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Section 407 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Varsity Group Inc. Announces Appointment of Robert M. Holster to Board of Directors

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Jennings to lead KC chapter of corporate board association

Based in Washington, D.C., NACD provides senior executives who serve on corporate and nonprofit boards with the research and education they need to navigate the increasingly complex world of corporate governance and financial reporting.

“Since Sarbanes-Oxley, the bar has been raised on the role of directors and boards in ensuring corporate accountability,” Jennings said. “NACD can help executives in our region become more engaged, more effective directors of the organizations they serve.”

Jennings to lead KC chapter of corporate board association

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Not-for-Profits in Wait-and-See Mode As Senate Considers Oversight Haul

The overall drive to nonprofit reform began after the passage of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which Congress enacted in the wake of Enron and other accounting scandals. After revelations that a small number of charities, such as those handling the millions received after Sept. 11, 2001, had engaged in similar abuses and administrative waste, the drive quickly intensified.

Not-for-Profits in Wait-and-See Mode As Senate Considers Oversight Haul

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Thursday, September 02, 2004

Cognos: Sarbanes-Oxley

With Cognos, companies can meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: certification, disclosure, and timely reporting. More importantly, in meeting these requirements, your investment in better performance management will also give you a true competitive advantage.

Cognos: Sarbanes-Oxley

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PROTIVITI SIGNS STRATEGIC AGREEMENT WITH ZEQUEL TECHNOLOGIES — Clients Offered New Solution for Policy Management and Sarbanes-Oxley Remediation

Protiviti Inc., a leading internal audit and risk consulting firm, announced today it has signed an agreement with Zequel Technologies, a developer of enterprise software solutions for managing corporate policies and procedures in accordance with regulatory compliance and reporting requirements. Through this agreement, Protiviti's internal audit and risk consulting professionals can access Zequel's DynamicPolicy tool to assist clients with policy management and remediation efforts related to compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other corporate governance regulations.

PROTIVITI SIGNS STRATEGIC AGREEMENT WITH ZEQUEL TECHNOLOGIES — Clients Offered New Solution for Policy Management and Sarbanes-Oxley Remediation

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National Firms Face Competition From Emerging 'Third Tier'

“Much of the Third Tier’s revenue growth can be attributed to mergers, but it’s also being fueled by work resulting from passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which ― among other provisions ― prohibits accounting firms from performing certain consulting engagements for publicly held audit clients,” says Martha Sawyer, president of Hudson Sawyer, publisher of IPA.

National Firms Face Competition From Emerging 'Third Tier'

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BIOLASE Provides Update of Sarbanes-Oxley Implementation and Legal Expenses

BIOLASE Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLTI), a medical technology company that develops, manufactures and markets lasers and related products focused on improving dental procedures, today provided an update on its anticipated operating expenses for the second half of 2004. The Company estimates professional fees and costs associated with Sarbanes-Oxley implementation, Diodem patent lawsuit and shareholder class action litigation will incrementally impact operating expenses by approximately $900,000 in the third quarter and approximately $950,000 in the fourth quarter.

BIOLASE Provides Update of Sarbanes-Oxley Implementation and Legal Expenses

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Decisions - Sarbanes-Oxley

Public companies across Europe and the US are devoting a substantial amount of energy and resources to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, a ruling which forces CEOs and FDs to sign off accounts personally and makes them criminally liable for any misstatements in those accounts. According to Ian Russell, CEO of Scottish Power, which is listed in both London and New York, his US peers should not look at the regulation as undiluted bad news.

Decisions - Sarbanes-Oxley

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Event: Back to Basics - You Can’t Comply Without the Facts

Corporate executive teams today are busy meeting the first round of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 deadlines. But compliance doesn't end with Section 404. Further regulation is guaranteed -- and it is a certainty that changes in your business will also affect your compliance efforts. Forward-thinking organizations are focused on sustaining compliance beyond the requirements for Section 404. To do this, they are looking to re-align their systems, processes and people -- not just to meet current federal compliance requirements, but also to create a self-sustaining framework for excellence in finance.

Event: Back to Basics - You Can’t Comply Without the Facts

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Cheat Sheet: Sarbanes-Oxley

Companies should have started looking at their SOX issues some time ago - but many are still just waking up to the challenge. According to Margaret Brooks, director of strategic business development and SOX specialist at Computer Associates, finance departments 'get it' but "a lot of CIOs don't know what's going to hit them."

Cheat Sheet: Sarbanes-Oxley

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Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Keeping up with regulatory compliance

As Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA deadlines loom, enterprises are scrambling to meet regulatory mandates. Are point solutions that satisfy the letter of the latest laws the best we can do? Or is there a better, more extensible way?

Keeping up with regulatory compliance

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Sarbanes-Oxley compliance cost estimates soar 62 percent

Complying with Section 404 of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act will cost public companies an average 62% more than previously anticipated, according to a July 2004 FEI survey. The increase in Section 404 compliance costs stems from a 109% rise in internal costs, a 42% jump in external costs and a 40% increase in the fees charged by external auditors.

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance cost estimates soar 62 percent

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Carrols Corporation Chooses Certus to Manage Sarbanes-Oxley Requirements

Certus Software, Inc. (formerly Nth Orbit), a proven leader of corporate compliance software for the enterprise, today announced that Carrols Corporation, one of the largest restaurant companies in the United States, has chosen CertusTM software to manage its Sarbanes-Oxley initiative. Carrols will use Certus to accelerate the documentation phase of its 404 initiative by enabling it to quickly, accurately and easily leverage all of its current documentation, processes and controls. Carrols, which owns and operates more than 530 restaurants in 16 states under the Burger King®, Pollo Tropical® and Taco Cabana® brands, employs over 16,000 people and has sales of approximately $640 million.

Carrols Corporation Chooses Certus to Manage Sarbanes-Oxley Requirements

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Sarboxing Clever

For hundreds of companies, there is no getting away from Sarbanes-Oxley, so they might as well turn a problem into an opportunity. By analysing and documenting their internal controls, some FDs are finding ways to improve their systems and processes. Could there be a silver lining hidden within the burden of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance?

Sarboxing Clever

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SEC urges more time to bring fraud lawsuits

The Securities and Exchange Commission is urging a U.S. federal appeals court to give some investors more time to sue companies for fraud, a newspaper reported Wednesday. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed Tuesday, the agency urged making retroactive a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that would let investors revive some older claims, the Wall Street Journal said, citing court documents.

SEC urges more time to bring fraud lawsuits

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Webcast: Nonprofit Compliance With Sarbanes-Oxley and Stricter IRS Enforcement

BoardBoost expert Morris Nunes, in cooperation with the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), will deliver a live interactive Webcast on TV Worldwide's Internet TV Channel, KindStream.com at 1:00 PM ET, Wednesday, September 1. Nunes will discuss the challenges faced by nonprofit organizations in the new regulatory environment resulting from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the newly energized IRS enforcement initiatives in the nonprofit sector. The live Internet Webcast will be archived and made available shortly thereafter and will be hosted for one full year.

Webcast: Nonprofit Compliance With Sarbanes-Oxley and Stricter IRS Enforcement

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