Tuesday, November 30, 2004

SEC gives companies more time to file reports

Companies with a market capitalization of less than $700 million now have an additional 45 days to file reports about their "internal controls"-the testing and documenting of sales, assets and liabilities. The new deadline of the end of April 2005 applies to companies with fiscal years ending between Nov. 15, 2004 and Feb. 28, 2005.

The internal control reports are required by 2002's Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals and was intended to combat financial fraud. Companies are required to submit their internal control procedures to both internal and external auditors.

SEC gives companies more time to file reports

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Sarbanes-Oxley Act passes first court test

In the first court test of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act — which requires a public corporation's top executives to vouch for the company's financial reports — U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre rebuffed Scrushy's argument that the law is unconstitutionally vague and should not be part of the indictment accusing him of massive fraud at HealthSouth.

Ruling in what she said was the first decision on the constitutionality of the 2002 law, Bowdre said jurors, and not the judge, should decide key questions of Scrushy's case.

Scrushy last year became the first CEO charged under Sarbanes-Oxley. Free on $10 million bond, he is accused of heading a scheme to overstate earnings by some $2.7 billion of the operator of rehabilitation hospitals and clinics.

His attorneys claimed the new law uses phrases like "willfully certifies" and "fairly represents" that make it all but impossible for corporate officers to tell if they are following the law. Prosecutors argued that similar language is used without problem in other laws.

In her 11-page opinion, Bowdre sided with the government and said it was up to a jury to decide if Scrushy met the letter of the law.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act passes first court test

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SOX 404 Trends for Next Year Beginning to Emerge

As public companies strive to meet compliance deadlines for Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, trends related to how companies will implement an efficient and effective process beyond the initial year of compliance are beginning to emerge, according to the results of a new survey released by Ernst & Young.

The survey, the third in a series, is part of an ongoing study from Ernst & Young's Business Risk Services practice entitled "Emerging Trends in Internal Controls." The study takes an in-depth look at emerging trends in Section 404 compliance, and polls nearly 100 large, public companies
representing a diverse cross-section of industries. This survey provides an update on the progress large public companies are making in 404 compliance and addresses key issues such as the level of effort involved; the amount of testing being done; key areas of remediation; and the extent and frequency of executive and audit committee oversight and communications.

The survey shows a sharp increase in the urgency of public company first-year efforts to meet compliance deadlines, with 46 percent of companies expecting largely to complete evaluation and testing of 404-related controls only one to two months before their fiscal year end, compared to only 13 percent in the previous survey. In addition, 30 percent of companies reported the time they expect to spend complying with Section 404 has increased by nearly 50 percent, due in large part to the increased number of controls identified for testing.

Some companies are also using or exploring the potential to use control self assessment (80 percent), continuous controls monitoring and analytics (48 percent), and, to a lesser extent, management self testing to support their Year 2 efforts.

SOX 404 Trends for Next Year Beginning to Emerge

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US to unveil concessions on accounting rules

Regulators will unveil on Tuesday new concessions for US companies struggling to compile reports on their safeguards against fraud and bad financial reporting.

The Securities & Exchange Commission, the chief US financial regulator, is set to give more than 2,000 public companies with market capitalisations of between $75m and $700m extra time to prepare reports on their internal controls.

The companies are expected to be allowed to file the reports with the SEC up to 45 days after they send their annual reports to the regulator.

They were originally supposed to file their reports on internal controls alongside the annual reports.

Internal controls are meant to ensure good financial reporting as well as detect fraud, and US lawmakers made the reports on such safeguards mandatory for public companies in section 404 of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.

But section 404 has become the most expensive and challenging provision of the legislation for companies.

US to unveil concessions on accounting rules

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Monday, November 29, 2004

Sarbanes-Oxley: Stop Whining! - Computerworld

Publicly, most chief executives are begrudgingly positive about the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In private, some of those same CEOs express grave reservations about its costs and complexity. If they are self-contradictory, it's because few want to risk being cast as spokespersons against good corporate governance.

Industry front groups have been more open in their criticism of Sarbanes-Oxley, citing it as a threat to U.S. competitiveness. The naysayers have warned that the high cost of compliance will squeeze profit margins, discouraging initial public offerings (IPO) and forcing smaller public companies to delist.

But more than two years after passage of the act, the sky hasn't fallen. On the IPO front, activity has actually increased since Sarbanes-Oxley went into effect. According to Thompson Financial, there have been 164 IPOs in 2004 through October, raising a total of $31.07 billion, compared with just 84 deals totaling $15.58 billion for all of 2003. If anything, Sarbanes-Oxley seems to have engendered investor and market confidence, not wariness.

Sarbanes-Oxley: Stop Whining! - Computerworld

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Translating COSO for the CIO

Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (CoBiT) is a set of IT-specific internal controls based on the integrated internal control framework developed by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and its interpretation by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) direct publicly listed U.S. companies to use the COSO framework as a guide to the internal controls documentation requirements of Section 404.

"The typical CIO has no idea what the COSO cube is," notes Dwayne E. Jorgensen, director of Sarbanes-Oxley services with CTG, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based provider of IT staffing, software and services. But he also notes that "the typical CFO can't speak in the CIO's terminology in terms of how the CIO views the management and protection of IT assets."

Translating COSO for the CIO

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Foolproof Compliance For Your IT Systems

In the context of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, IT really does matter. Systems access, security and change management controls within IT's domain can make or break compliance efforts. Yet many CIOs and CFOs remain confused about how Section 404 applies to their company's information technology infrastructure.

In Auditing Standard No. 2, its lengthy interpretation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) indicated that it will be strict in monitoring external auditing firms' approach to examining and reporting on the technological aspects of their corporate clients' financial reporting processes. That decision, audit experts say, pushes external auditors, IT managers and finance executives to cultivate a deeper understanding of the data that courses through financial systems.

CFOs now confront much larger IT challenges than figuring out whether the CIO is overspending on technological bells and whistles. They need to know that the data which flows into IT's labyrinth of systems and applications emerges securely and accurately. Sound corporate governance increasingly depends on policies and procedures that demonstrate, document and communicate that knowledge.

Foolproof Compliance For Your IT Systems

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Sterling Commerce Value-Added Network Attains Sarbanes-Oxley Readiness

Multi-Enterprise Collaboration innovator Sterling Commerce today announced that its value-added network, Sterling Information Broker, has passed the SAS 70 Type II (Statement of Auditing Standards Number 70) audit. The significance of the audit surrounds Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, requiring service providers to have proper controls and processes in place when managing customer information.

The SAS 70 Type II assurance confirms that the Sterling Information Broker infrastructure has passed rigorous third-party testing and that it has strict processes in place relating to security, application development, communications, customer service and disaster planning.

"This is of great interest to our customer base, and quite an achievement for our company," said Nolan Rosen, Sterling Commerce chief marketing officer. "It means that we have gone above and beyond to meet strict regulations around the handling and reporting of business information."

"Auditors were onsite at our Columbus headquarters during much of September performing the audit of our operational controls," Rosen added. "It's gratifying to be able to say we had such outstanding results - and that our customer-driven efforts are paying off." During the past three years, Sterling Commerce added $30 million worth of enhancements to its value-added network.

Sterling Commerce Value-Added Network Attains Sarbanes-Oxley Readiness

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Preventsys Ensures Sarbanes-Oxley 404 Compliance with Latest Update to Enterprise Security Management System

Preventsys Inc., a pioneer in information security and policy compliance systems specifically for large organizations, today announced that it has updated the Policy and Regulatory Compliance module of the Preventsys Enterprise Security Management System to include new and updated compliance rules related to Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) -- including section 404 of the Act, which mandates that internal controls be proven to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of financial, management and reporting technology systems.

"The Section 404 deadline of November 15, 2004 has come and gone, and it's a safe bet that hundreds of top companies are still struggling to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley's strict guidelines," said Tom Rowley, chief executive officer of Preventsys. "With the new update to the Preventsys Enterprise Security Management System, we automate the compliance audit process across all IT systems, so there's no need to guess what the state of compliance is for your company. Also, we added up to the minute compliance reports that can be generated with the push of a button. The Preventsys system can pinpoint and identify Section 404 trouble spots immediately."

Rowley noted that Preventsys' December 3rd webinar is a "must-attend" event for any company CIO or corporate compliance officer concerned about ongoing SOX compliance: "We're going to use a refreshing amount of plain English to discuss how corporations can best handle the audit process and its aftermath," Rowley said.

The Preventsys Policy & Regulatory Compliance system is an automated compliance management software solution that enables complex organizations to effectively measure compliance against requirements deemed necessary for financially significant IT systems in accordance with the Sarbanes-Oxley law, and other policies and regulations. The Preventsys system enables repeatable and consistent auditing and reporting over time at both a macro level (global network, business units, financial systems, etc.) and at a micro level (per sub-network or per audit). Preventsys also enables large companies to have a complete record of computer and monitoring controls, and an effective, automated way to address non-compliance issues through its built-in workflow, issue assignment and tracking capabilities.

Preventsys Ensures Sarbanes-Oxley 404 Compliance with Latest Update to Enterprise Security Management System

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No escape from the escalating cost of Sox

European companies with a listing in the US are up in arms over the cost of complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In common with many US businesses, they are especially exercised about the requirements of Section 404 on internal control.

Yet there is a curious aspect to this backlash. For as Lynn Turner, former chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission, points out, Section 404 does not mandate a single new control beyond those already mandated by Congress in 1977 in the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Nor is there anything that goes beyond the Treadway Commission's recommendations in 1992 on internal control, which have long been regarded in the US as best practice.

Part of the problem is that the enforcement climate is tougher. Auditors, with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board at their back and the demise of Andersen playing on their nerves, have also become hyperactive on the internal control issue.

No escape from the escalating cost of Sox

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Disgruntled CFOs are calling it quits

The push for better ethics and transparent accounting in corporate America, including the drive to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley law in 2002, has had an unexpected side effect: More finance chiefs are calling it quits.

"Coping with the pressures of Sarbanes-Oxley even as they try to guide companies through a recession has put an enormous strain on CFOs and their staffs," said Julia Homer, editor in chief of CFO magazine.

It has also taken the fun out of the job.

"Sarbanes-Oxley has turned CFOs into scorekeepers rather than players, and they just can't be strategic anymore," said Eleanor Bloxham, co-president of the Corporate Governance Alliance, a consulting firm in Westerville, Ohio.

Disgruntled CFOs are calling it quits

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Friday, November 26, 2004

Anglo-German action against Sarbanes-Oxley

British and German business groups are to launch a joint campaign to fight what they see as the “excessive costs and regulatory burden” imposed by the US Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance legislation.

In a sign of the growing international corporate backlash against the Act, they will urge the US Securities and Exchange Commission to make changes, including making it easier to delist from US stock exchanges.

The CBI and the BDI, the German industry federation, will write a joint letter to the SEC outlining their members' rising concern over the legislation. This will be followed by meetings between leading officials from the business groups and the SEC early next month in the US. The two groups will also step up their lobbying of US authorities.

“UK and German business feels very strongly over this issue,” said Digby Jones, CBI director-general. He said Sarbanes-Oxley would lead to heavy regulatory and compliance costs. “Sarbanes-Oxley is endangering New York's role as an international location to raise capital,” he added. The joint campaign was agreed at a meeting of Unice, the pan-European business federation that claims to represent 16m companies, in The Hague.

Anglo-German action against Sarbanes-Oxley

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Sarbanes-Oxley Act may find its way into Singapore rules: PwC

International accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers says authorities in Singapore may see it fit to adopt some of the best practices form the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in line with efforts to become a world class financial hub.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was made law by the US in 2002 in the wake of accounting scandals, like Enron, that shook investor confidence in the corporate world. Under the act, filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission will have to be accompanied by sworn statements from the company's chief executive and chief financial officer as to their fairness and accuracy.

Some say the rules are tough but industry players see that as a growing trend.

Gererd Tan, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, "Certainly, I think we have our share of problems in Singapore in terms of misreporting. I think regulators around the world are trying to see what best practices come out of the US from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act."

Sarbanes-Oxley Act may find its way into Singapore rules: PwC

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Thursday, November 25, 2004

UK concern over impact of Sarbanes-Oxley

The business backlash over the impact of the US Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance legislation will be raised at a meeting of European employer groups on Friday in the Hague. The Confederation of British Industry, the UK business group, said on Thursday it expected to hold talks with European counterparts over co-ordinating a push for changes in the legislation.

Digby Jones, director-general of the CBI, said the increased regulatory and compliance costs imposed by Sarbanes-Oxley had become a prime concern for companies with listings on US stock exchanges. He said large public companies were actively considering de-listing in the US as result.

“New York is regulating itself out as a international location for raising capital. That is how serious it is,” he said. “Our members are complaining this is going to lead to millions of extra compliance and regulatory costs that will be ongoing.”

UK concern over impact of Sarbanes-Oxley

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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Hidden gold in corporate cleanup

Sarbanes-Oxley may strike dread in the hearts of some IT executives, but not Tracy Austin. Austin, the chief information officer with casino operator Mandalay Resort Group, said the financial reporting regulations act resulted in a 30 percent increase in her information technology budget this year and battle-tested her fairly young IT staff.

"I was able to beef up our test and development system budget, as well as our firewall and intrusion detection system budget," Austin said. "Sarbanes-Oxley opened up the awareness of our (chief) executives and prompted questions about...our business risks. So instead of talking about technology, we were talking about what are our business risks and the technology to address them."

Compliance technology has gone from the wish lists of bean-counters to the important to-do lists of key executives and board members. That's because the regulations laid down in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other laws hold executives' feet to the fire, making them responsible for signing off on the accuracy of their financial statements. Last week, a key section of Sarbanes-Oxley kicked in, turning up the heat.

Hidden gold in corporate cleanup

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Governance compliance takes toll

The cost of corporate governance regulations being forced on companies here by the Higgs Report and in the US by Sarbanes-Oxley legislation is costing top British companies hundreds of million of pounds a year. A report into major international companies found that, in Britain, the Higgs rules on director best practice plus the accounting and auditing shake-up in the Smith Report are costing companies on average £1.6m.


If the companies also have securities listed in the US, the additional cost of the new financial reporting legislation there is put at $8.8m (£4.7m) each. Much of that will be going on advice from lawyers, accountants and executive consultancies.

Governance compliance takes toll

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Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Firms Cram for a Passing Sarbanes Grade

Hundreds of public companies soon may get a failing grade on a key Sarbanes-Oxley-related report. As disturbing as that may sound, some observers are more worried about how investors will react to such news. Many observers consider the reports, which were intended to prevent the next Enron debacle, to be the key provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. But some accounting experts and regulators are warning investors that just because a company turns in an imperfect report doesn't mean it's a corporate scandal in the making.

"It's important that investors have an understanding of what the material weakness is," said Erica Sulkowski, a spokeswoman for the Securities and Exchange Commission. "If the reaction to a material weakness is that everybody sells without regard to the substance of [them] , that could be problematic."

But some corporate watchdogs think companies have little excuse for the poor reports, which concern a company's so-called internal controls.

Firms Cram for a Passing Sarbanes Grade

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Better Governance and Reporting Under Sarbanes-Oxley: Are we There Yet?

Since its enactment in 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has led to a deluge of studies, reports, and regulations. Public companies, auditors, regulators, attorneys, and U.S. federal, state and local, and foreign governments have all grappled with its implementation and implications. This article provides an update on where things now stand. It covers many of the recent developments, and identifies still unsettled areas. The article will discuss Sarbanes-Oxley generally, with special attention to the international scope of Sarbanes-Oxley and exceptions for foreign entities, and the tax area. The intent is to provide a general understanding of how Sarbanes-Oxley is shaping business operations, describe the provisions of greatest concern to public companies and their applicability to foreign persons, and give citations to additional guidance.

Better Governance and Reporting Under Sarbanes-Oxley: Are we There Yet?

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Line56.com: Technology Rising for SOX

Technology spending is growing as a component of overall investment in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, according to a study released by AMR Research this week.

SOX spending will grow to $5.8 billion in 2005, with the technology component rising from $1.13B in 2004 to $1.62B in 2005, a 43 percent increase. Overall, companies say that 42 percent of 2005 SOX spending will be for internal labor and headcount; 29 percent will be for outsourced services; and 28 percent will be for technology.

The top four "hot button" areas for technology spending are document and records management; all types of security, (internal and external); business process management; and compliance management software.

Line56.com: Technology Rising for SOX

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Price of Regulatory Compliance Skyrockets, According to Board Directors Worldwide

Complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other corporate governance legislation has come at a significant cost — both monetary and otherwise — to companies worldwide, according to the 31st Annual Board of Directors Study, released today by Korn/Ferry International (NYSE:KFY), the premier provider of executive search and leadership development solutions.

The most comprehensive, longest-running survey of its kind in the world, the Board of Directors Study examines opinions and practices found in boardrooms of major corporations throughout the world. The findings are based on the responses of nearly 1,000 board members from 14 nations in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe. This year, the survey population was expanded to include directors of South African companies.

Price of Regulatory Compliance Skyrockets, According to Board Directors Worldwide

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BT chairman slams cost of Sarbox

The 'great burden' of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance will cost BT £10m, according to chairman Sir Christopher Bland. But Sir Christopher said there was no chance of BT delisting from the US stock market. 'We have American shareholders and US dollar-denominated bonds as well. So we've just got to grit our teeth and get on with it.'

Sir Christopher also said that he preferred the splitting of chairman and chief executive roles, which has formed part of the recent UK reforms of corporate governance.

BT chairman slams cost of Sarbox

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Sarbanes-Oxley: Compliance Issues Can Mean Business Benefit

As a key section of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act took effect last week, companies continue to race against the clock to meet the act's rigorous financial-documentation and reporting requirements before the end of their fiscal years. And not all companies will make it.

Under Sarbanes-Oxley's section 404, most public companies are required as of Nov. 15 to include with their 2004 annual reports a statement containing management's assessment of the effectiveness of the company's internal financial controls, as well as corroborating statements from outside auditors. Companies whose fiscal year ends Dec. 31 have until March to issue statements.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, which has a large compliance practice, reported last week that 70% of its clients have experienced "significant slippage" in meeting section 404 requirements, and 10% are at severe risk of not being in compliance. As many as 20% of companies will report "material weaknesses" in their annual reports, the Securities and Exchange Commission's chief accountant said in a recent speech.

Sarbanes-Oxley: Compliance Issues Can Mean Business Benefit

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Monday, November 22, 2004

U.S. Workers and Investors Largely Unaware of Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Eighty percent of U.S. workers and 76 percent of employed investors have never heard of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, according to a Hudson survey measuring its impact in the workplace. As the first compliance deadline approaches in December, only nine percent of workers say they have been asked to do something differently in their jobs as a result of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Among working investors, defined as owning at least $5,000 in stocks, bonds and mutual funds, only seven percent indicated that Sarbanes-Oxley had increased their confidence as an investor. Likewise among this group, only seven percent said it had increased their confidence in the leadership of public companies. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted to restore investor confidence in public company accounting and leadership by increasing transparency and requiring CEOs and CFOs to attest to the soundness of their companies' internal controls.

"Clearly, U.S. workers and individual investors are not well informed about the Act or its intended benefits," said Dee Lonn, executive vice president of Hudson Financial Solutions. "Despite massive investments of corporate resources, public relations is lagging and the workplace impact has not extended much beyond those directly responsible for achieving compliance." Companies are spending an average of $3 million in the first year to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, according to Financial Executives International.

U.S. Workers and Investors Largely Unaware of Sarbanes-Oxley Act

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Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protection for Corporate Employees

In Whistleblower Law, D.C. lawyers Stephen Kohn, Michael Kohn, and David Colapinto examine the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which in part spells out protections for employees who point out corporate misdeeds. One of the goals of this legislation, the authors claim, was to break "the corporate code of silence" that often cloaks corporate shenanigans.

SOX goes beyond simple protections for whistleblowers to incorporate the following four basic provisions: a prohibition against employment discrimination, criminal penalties for those who discriminate against whistleblowers, corporate responsibility to receive whistleblower complaints, and the responsibility of attorneys to report wrongdoing.

The target audience for this book, in addition to employees, includes corporate HR professionals and trainers, legal eagles, and managers.

Whistleblower Law: A Guide to Legal Protection for Corporate Employees

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Sarbanes-Oxley -- compliance or excellence?

Large publicly traded companies had until November 15, 2004 to comply with the new Sarbanes-Oxley (Sarbox) rules. Among other things, these regulations require that corporate executives have meaningful internal controls over financial reporting and that they personally swear to the accuracy of their company's financial statements. For auditing purposes, companies must have a verifiable link between the original data and the quarterly or year-end numbers reported to government agencies, most especially to the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Companies have had two years to work on this issue; Sarbox was put into place in 2002 and the deadline for the most intensive regulations was extended from June until this week. And although much good and hard work has taken place, I'm wondering how many of these public firms can look their largest institutional shareholders square in the eye and swear that they have the firmest of financial controls and absolutely *all* the verifiable information that a tight ship requires. I'd suggest that, while we're certainly in a lot better shape on the financial-accountability score than we were before the Sarbox rules, there's a whole lot more that could be done. It's the difference between simply meeting the basic requirements (and in the absence of any proof to the contrary I'm assuming that all good corporate citizens have done their duty here) and doing everything that can be done with today's technology.

Consider this. Despite how intertwined Sarbox compliance must be with the IT group - and the reasons why should be obvious to any technologist reading this - the IT unit was not even involved in Sarbox planning at many organizations. A study earlier this year by Atlanta-based benchmarking firm Hackett Group found that just 12 of 22 companies surveyed had IT representation on their Sarbox steering committees. And when Gartner Group surveyed 75 public companies last fall, only 63 percent said IT was involved in Sarbox.

Sarbanes-Oxley -- compliance or excellence?

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Ingersoll-Rand Selects OpenPages SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

OpenPages, a leading provider of enterprise governance, risk and compliance management (GRCM) solutions, today announced that Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited has selected OpenPages Sarbanes-Oxley Express (SOX Express) for its Section 302 and 404 compliance initiatives.

Ingersoll-Rand is a leading innovation and solutions provider for the major global markets of Security and Safety, Climate Control, Industrial Solutions and Infrastructure. The company's diverse product portfolio encompasses such leading industrial and commercial brands as Schlage locks and security solutions; Thermo King transport temperature control equipment; Hussmann commercial and retail refrigeration equipment; Bobcat compact equipment; Club Car golf cars and utility vehicles; and Ingersoll-Rand industrial and construction equipment. In addition, IR offers products and services under many more premium brands for customers in industrial and commercial markets.

Ingersoll-Rand 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.

"Leveraging our internal controls documentation to date was a critical factor in selecting a software application for Sarbanes-Oxley," said Tim Scofield, vice president and director, Audit Services, for Ingersoll-Rand. "By offering an easy migration from Internal Controls Workbench to SOX Express, OpenPages keeps our initiatives on track while significantly upgrading our capabilities for ensuring highly efficient, cost-effective, quarter-over-quarter compliance."

Ingersoll-Rand Selects OpenPages SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

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Saturday, November 20, 2004

Restoration Hardware shares drop on loss, outlook

Shares of Restoration Hardware plunged Friday after the home furnishings chain posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss and issued a disappointing outlook. Costs to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and continued distribution and supply-chain inefficiencies also hurt earnings, the company said

Restoration Hardware stock closed at $5.35, down 96 cents, or 15 percent, Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Restoration Hardware shares drop on loss, outlook

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Web Hosting News: NaviSite Completes SAS 70 Type II Audit

NaviSite, Inc. (www.navisite.com) announced today that it has successfully completed a SAS 70 (Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70) Type II Audit. The SAS 70 Audit was performed by a nationally recognized public accounting firm.

Successful completion of SAS 70 Type II audit indicates that NaviSite's processes, procedures and general controls have been formally reviewed.

"With the increased emphasis on integrity and security in today's business environment, and a concern for regulatory standards, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, we believe that the successful completion of the SAS 70 Type II Audit will help to assure our customers that they can trust their systems, data and processes to NaviSite," said Arthur Becker, Chief Executive Officer of NaviSite.

Web Hosting News: NaviSite Completes SAS 70 Type II Audit

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Friday, November 19, 2004

OSHA Orders Controller to be Rehired

A former finance executive of an industrial-products company has regained his job and will receive back wages under the whistle-blowing provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered the American Standard Cos. and subsidiary Trane Corp. to reinstate former Trane controller David Windhauser, to pay him $105,489.55 in back pay and compensatory remedies, and to remove any disciplinary letters from his personnel file. OSHA determined that Windhauser had been fired in violation of Sarbox after he raised questions about company accounting practices to his supervisors.

"This is precisely the type of whistle-blowing activity that is protected under the law," said Patricia K. Clark, OSHA's regional administrator in New York, in a statement. "We are determined to enforce the law so that employees who expose corporate wrongdoing know they will be protected."

OSHA Orders Controller to be Rehired

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Study finds over 60% of CFO�s of SEC registered companies resign or are pushed when a Material Weakness is Disclosed

A.R.C. Morgan has produced its latest Sarbanes-Oxley research report 'Using Reported Weakness Disclosures to Benchmark Internal Controls'.A comprehensive study that provides full disclosed weakness data reported by over 350 SEC registered companies.

The results and conclusions of this study provide significant insight to all those involved with, or interested in understanding, an audit of Internal Control over Financial Reporting. The work effort required to document processes, identify significant risks and mitigating controls, evaluate control design and effectiveness, and report on such effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting (on an annual basis) has already been extremely time-consuming and, by extension, costly. Yet despite the investments made weaknesses are still being declared and the expectation is that many more companies will be in a similar position. The research was designed to gauge what weaknesses are being disclosed, remediation action taken, impact on the organization and help give other filers a benchmark tool to asses their own environments and what to look out for. The rigorous research that forms the basis of this report has unearthed some unexpected results.

Study finds over 60% of CFO�s of SEC registered companies resign or are pushed when a Material Weakness is Disclosed

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Thursday, November 18, 2004

404 Compliance, Exec Compensation Top Governance Issues Among Directors

Executive compensation and internal audit compliance issues rank as the top concerns of corporate directors, according to a survey by the Columbia Business School Executive Education Division.

Nearly 40 percent of directors polled identified compensation, while one-third cited compliance with Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley as today's key issues in corporate governance, during a poll at the recent Columbia Executive Education course, "Accounting Essentials for Corporate Directors: Enhancing Financial Integrity."

"Director concern over executive compensation and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance is unabated. When we surveyed corporate directors six months ago, they cited the same concerns," noted Ethan Hanabury, associate dean of executive education at Columbia Business School.

404 Compliance, Exec Compensation Top Governance Issues Among Directors

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White Paper: Sarbanes-Oxley and the Branch Office

For the more than 15,000 publicly-traded corporations doing business in the United States, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (also known as "SOX") is a major piece of legislation that is a having profound impact on the way financial information is collected, processed, stored and reported. These companies must develop, test, document and consistently execute processes that lead to full, accurate and timely disclosure of any events that materially impact the financial standing of the corporation.

SOX lays out the potential for severe penalties, including prison, for corporate executives that fail to meet the new compliance standards created in the Act. Most CEOs and CFOs are taking these new mandates very seriously, and are putting programs and processes in place to help them meet this challenge. However, many of these corporations have not yet addressed the management of financial information that resides in their remote or branch offices.

This is a tough problem - often with hundreds or even thousands of locations, each with their own levels of data protection technology and personnel skills - but it's one that needs to be addressed to fully meet SOX compliance.

Signiant has developed a white paper "Sarbanes-Oxley and the Branch Office", providing an insight into the management of remote data with regards to SOX compliance, and will help the reader to gain a better understanding of its purposes, requirements, and consequences.

White Paper: Sarbanes-Oxley and the Branch Office

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Sarbox to cost UK corporates £120m

LSE predicts regulatory burden will prompt a dash to de-list from US markets to avoid burden of compliance. UK plc faces an estimated $226m (£122m) bill for implementing stringent rules on internal controls under section 404 of the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The news came as the London Stock Exchange revealed it was anticipating a surge in de-listings by companies fleeing the increasing burden of regulatory compliance on US markets.

One of the heaviest blows came in the form of section 404, which will force UK companies with a dual US listing to document and annually test key controls. The requirements, to be phased in from July next year, will also require management to prepare audited statements that controls are working effectively.

According to research done in the US, the cost of compliance is likely to be around $2m (£1.08m), but UK companies have so far been reluctant to talk figures.

Sarbox to cost UK corporates £120m

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SAS Goodnight To Discuss Sarbanes-Oxley in CFO Keynote

Jim Goodnight, chief executive officer of SAS, will deliver the keynote address at the MIT Sloan chief financial officer Summit on Friday. The conference will include some 400 executives in Newton, MA.

"With new government regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Basel II and International Financial Reporting Standards, CFOs have both increased organizational power and added responsibility," Goodnight said in a statement. "With this new focus on finance, organizations need to have unwavering confidence in the financial data they create and in the analysis of this data for making timely and accurate business decisions. This shift places increased importance on the finance department in overall enterprise strategy, thus necessitating a stronger bond between CEO and CFO."

SAS will also be touting its new SAS Financial Intelligence product that it says offers “a new level of precision across business processes including consolidations, reporting, budgeting, planning, strategy, forecasting, risk and the audit process.”

SAS Goodnight To Discuss Sarbanes-Oxley in CFO Keynote

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SEC Delays Annual Report Filing Deadline

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday it was postponing by one year a deadline for large corporations to speed up filing of annual and quarterly financial reports with the SEC.
After numerous requests for a delay, the SEC said it pushed back the deadline to give companies and corporate auditors more time to comply with new rules on internal controls over financial reporting mandated by Congress.

The SEC had moved to speed up corporate reports before Congress ordered companies to beef up their internal controls over financial reporting with the approval of their auditors.

The internal controls rule prompted many companies to complain they could not comply with that as well as meet the accelerated filing deadlines.

In a bid to get financial information into investors' hands more quickly, the SEC in 2002 shortened the submission period for corporate annual report filings to 75 days from 90 days after the end of the fiscal year, effective for 2003 reports.

This year, the submission period was scheduled to shrink to 60 days from 75 days, effective for 2004 annual reports; and to 35 days from 40 days for 2004 quarterly reports, the SEC said.

SEC Delays Annual Report Filing Deadline

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Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Wharton study: Does Sarbanes-Oxley Hurt Shareholders and Hide Poor Management?

In April 2004, minutes after posting healthy increases in sales and earnings, the publicly traded Niagara Corp. announced it was "going dark," delisting its common stock. The company, a steel manufacturer with sales last year of nearly $300 million, was hardly alone: During 2003 for example, 198 firms went dark, up from only 67 in the previous year. While most companies say they are deregistering from major exchanges to escape the steep costs associated with regulatory filings, some investors and others see darker reasons, rooted in serving insiders' self interest. A new study co-authored by Wharton accounting professor Christian Leuz entitled, Why Do Firms Go Dark? Causes and Economic Consequences of Voluntary SEC Deregistrations, analyzes this recent trend.

In 2002, responding to a spate of accounting scandals that threatened to undermine confidence in the American securities market, Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Designed to promote transparency, the Act mandated increased disclosure, required new board oversight and internal controls, and promised to give investors better information. But in the year following its passage, the number of firms that went dark and ceased to issue detailed financial reports tripled, meaning more investors were receiving no information at all.

When a company goes dark it can no longer be listed on a big exchange like the NYSE but can continue to trade on the Pink Sheets, an electronic quotation medium for over-the-counter stocks. Stocks that list here do not have to meet minimum requirements or file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Why did they go dark? Cost was certainly a factor in some of the decisions, says Leuz. "Some smaller companies estimated that the cost of complying with SOX was as high as $500,000 per firm, while the cost for bigger companies could be in the millions," notes Leuz, who co-authored the study with Alexander Triantis and Tracy Wang from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. Among the estimated increased costs are those related to "higher audit and legal fees, new internal control systems that need to be implemented, higher director and officer insurance premiums, and a host of other expenses associated with compliance."

Wharton study: Does Sarbanes-Oxley Hurt Shareholders and Hide Poor Management?

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Microsoft Sarbanes-Oxley Accelerator Won't Meet Needs Alone

Microsoft's Office Solution Accelerator for Sarbanes-Oxley was well-received when it was first introduced. Now, however, the company's commitment to the product is in question, as is its ability to meet its customers' business needs.

Microsoft Sarbanes-Oxley Accelerator Won't Meet Needs Alone

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National Survey Finds Awareness of Sarbanes-Oxley Among Not-for-Profits Surges

Awareness of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 had surged in the not-for-profit industry over the past year. According to the second annual Grant Thornton Board Governance Survey for Not-for-Profit Organizations, 83 percent of survey respondents say they are "very" or "somewhat" familiar with the act, compared to 56 percent in the 2003.

The survey, which includes responses from more than 700 not-for-profit entities, also found that these organizations are not only aware of the act, but many are also taking action because of it. Almost half (48 percent) of survey respondents have made changes to their corporate governance policies as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley.

"This increased awareness and action is, no doubt, the result of board members, governmental entities and other constituencies requiring enhancements in governance, operational and fiscal matters." says Frank Kurre, managing partner of Grant Thornton's National not-for-profit practice.

National Survey Finds Awareness of Sarbanes-Oxley Among Not-for-Profits Surges

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Cost of Sarbanes-Oxley

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is perhaps familiar to readers mostly for its detrimental effect on the clarity of MR industry league tables. However, the cost to others is rather greater: US companies will spend an estimated $5.8 billion on meeting its requirements in 2005, according to AMR Research.

The initial deadline for public companies to comply with Section 404 of the Act was yesterday, November 15. Section 404 demands that companies document, control, and secure business processes that directly and materially contribute to reported financial results.

According to Vice President of Research John Hagerty, it was initially thought that Sarbanes-Oxley spending would be a one-time expenditure, but in fact 36% of companies plan to increase spending, 52% will maintain current levels and 12% will decrease SOX spending.

Cost of Sarbanes-Oxley

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The Sarbanes Raiders

With the implosion of Enron and WorldCom, it seems strange that -- in light of the new stringent regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley -- there has not been much hostile activity lately. Well, this may change.

Take yesterday's deal, in which General Electric (NYSE: GE) purchased the Edwards Systems unit of SPX (NYSE: SPW) for $1.4 billion. SPX is the perfect target for a hostile bid. It is a conglomerate of slow-growing industrial properties. It recently had issues with its accounting. And, most importantly, it has assets that are undervalued -- such as the Edwards Systems unit.

A firm called Relational Investors LLC purchased a significant stake in SPX (about 5.7%) and recently launched a proxy fight to throw out management. The firm alleges in an SEC statement that management improperly altered its compensation structure.

The Sarbanes Raiders

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Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Mycom Announces New Electronic Mail Archiving Service

The new mailMAX Archiving option will add an important long term document retention dimension enabling companies and organizations to better comply with regulatory requirements such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and SEC Rule 17a-4, NASD Rule 3010.

Mycom Announces New Electronic Mail Archiving Service

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NaviSite Successfully Completes SAS 70 Type II Audit: Hosting service supports Sarbanes-Oxley Reporting Requirements

NaviSite, Inc. (NASDAQ SC: NAVI), a leading provider of managed application services and a broad range of outsourced hosting services for middle-market organizations, announced today that it has successfully completed a SAS 70 (Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70) Type II Audit. The SAS 70 Audit was performed by a nationally recognized public accounting firm.

Successful completion of SAS 70 Type II audit indicates that NaviSite's processes, procedures and general controls have been formally reviewed. The systems and processes evaluated in this audit include security monitoring, change management, problem management, backup and environmental controls, logical and physical access.

NaviSite was able to satisfy the requirement of the SAS 70 Type II audit, which places the highest level of scrutiny under SAS No. 70 on the company's operational controls and procedures. SAS No. 70, Service Organizations, is an internationally recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). A SAS 70 Type II Audit is an in-depth analysis of a service organization's control over information technology and related processes and is often required by public companies for compliance requirements or other companies that want assurance that processes, procedures, and general controls meet the industry's highest standards and best practices. NaviSite is committed to maintaining a semi-annual audit program to provide our customers with current audit results, thus accommodating the varying fiscal year ends of our customers.

NaviSite Successfully Completes SAS 70 Type II Audit: Hosting service supports Sarbanes-Oxley Reporting Requirements

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Audit the Data - Or Else

In this 9-page, informative white paper, Baroudi-Bloor International, a research, analysis, and strategic advisory company serving high technology vendors and users, discusses the hazards that surround data, shows the role of audit in mitigating those risks, and describes best practices in auditing data. The necessary role of data auditing as it relates to meeting compliance regulations, including The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the California Senate Bill 1386, HIPAA, and The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act is explained.

Audit the Data - Or Else

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Accounting problem at SunTrust could delay Sarbanes-Oxley filing

An internal financial audit at SunTrust Banks Inc. has confirmed an accounting problem with its loan loss reserves that could prevent the bank from completing its Sarbanes-Oxley Act reporting requirements by a Dec. 31 deadline.
In an announcement last Wednesday, Atlanta-based SunTrust said that its internal audit found "numerous errors in the loan loss allowance calculations for the first and second quarters, including data, model and formulaic errors," that were not immediately investigated and corrected. Also found were problems with the implementation of a new accounting allowance framework in the first quarter, which resulted in inadequate internal control procedures, insufficient validation and testing, and a failure to detect errors in the allowance calculation.

The bank has since had to restate its first- and second-quarter 2004 financial results because of the problems, according to SunTrust. Three employees in the bank's credit administration division, including its chief credit officer, were fired in connection with the problems, which weren't properly investigated and pursued by the Allowance Committee, according to the bank.

Accounting problem at SunTrust could delay Sarbanes-Oxley filing

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Sarbanes-Oxley Is Now a Fact of Business Life

Like it or not, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is not going away. In fact, companies are stepping up their response and have been spending significantly this year on compliance. SOX legislation was enacted to protect shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and fraudulent practices in the enterprise, and is used to define corporate records (electronic and otherwise) to be stored and for how long. Based on detailed survey results with more than 70 companies conducted in the fourth quarter of 2003 and subsequent 2004 research, we estimated this year's SOX spending would be $5.5 billion, with more than half—nearly $3 billion—in hard expenditures impacting bottom-line performances.

Many companies entered the SOX maelstrom thinking the bulk of money they spent to comply would be a one-time expense. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case. Based on a later survey in May, spending has continued to escalate.

Sarbanes-Oxley Is Now a Fact of Business Life

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New piece of Sarbanes-Oxley kicks in

A section of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act took effect Monday, part of new accounting regulations that promise to be a multimillion-dollar bonanza for tech security companies.

Under Section 404 of the law, publicly traded companies must have policies and controls in place to secure, document and process material information dealing with their financial results. Vendors helping companies with compliance are expect to reap $5.8 billion next year, with 28 percent going to technology companies, according to an AMR Research survey released Friday.

"Technology will play an increasingly significant role in the integration of SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) compliance initiatives into the business process," John Hagerty, vice president of research at AMR, said in a statement.

This year, companies and organizations are expected to spend $1.13 billion on technology to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. That is expected to increase to $1.62 billion next year, according to the study.

New piece of Sarbanes-Oxley kicks in

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Sarbanes-Oxley legislation passes latest deadline for compliance

Many businesses have less than 75 days to ensure their IT systems are compliant with US Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.

Any public company with more than $75m in market capitalisation that closes its 2004 fiscal year on or after 15 November must meet the needs of Section 404 of the 2002 US accounting regulation within 75 days of their year-end date.

Some 300 companies have already warned the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that they face non-compliance with the deadline for Section 404 due to weaknesses in their internal controls.

Section 404 mandates a company's auditor to identify 'any material internal control weakness' or 'significant deficiency', in verifying that management has sufficient operational command to produce reliable and compliant financial reports.

'Now we have all these other obligations including internal reporting, which is causing companies all this grief, because internal control reporting for US companies starts now,' said Rick Mitchell, partner at law firm, McDermott, Will & Emery.

Sarbanes-Oxley legislation passes latest deadline for compliance

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SOX and User Provisioning

Many companies are struggling with their initial compliance to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This Act has forced all public companies to analyze and document their process of creating and managing corporate financial information. For some companies, SOX has caused them to adopt entirely new internal business processes.

Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley relates to identifying users and controlling their access to sensitive information and applications. Despite its importance, this section actually does not prescribe any particular technologies or procedures that must be adopted. Many companies have begun to look to the Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) framework published by the IT Governance Institute to provide the details to support the required IT controls assessment and design activities to meet Sarbanes-Oxley.

SOX and User Provisioning

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Monday, November 15, 2004

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance: SunTrust Banks May Not Make Sarbanes-Oxley Deadline

Problems with how SunTrust Banks Inc. calculates loan-loss reserves will likely prevent the company from meeting Sarbanes-Oxley Act reporting requirements this year. Last week three SunTrust employees were fired in connection with accounting irregularities--deficiencies in the bank's method of determining loan-loss reserves--uncovered by an internal investigation. The bank restated its earnings upward for the first half of the year because of the discovered irregularities.

The investigation revealed "inadequate control procedures, insufficient documentation, and a failure to detect errors in our loan-loss calculations," SunTrust chairman and CEO Phillip Humann said in a conference call last week.

The three terminated employees, including the bank's chief credit officer, belonged to its credit-administration division. In addition, the bank's controller was reassigned to a position not related to financial reporting.

Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance: SunTrust Banks May Not Make Sarbanes-Oxley Deadline

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Sarbanes Oxley internal control rule hits today

Firms with fiscal years ending after Nov. 15, including financial giants like Morgan Stanley (MWD), Goldman Sachs (GS), Bear Stearns (BSC) and Lehman Brothers (LEH) are now required to prove in their annual reports that they've tested and documented their sales, assets and liabilities in a way that complies with the sweeping Sarbanes-Oxley law of 2002.

The post-Nov. 15 deadline applies in particular to companies with a market capitalization of more than $75 million. Passed in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was broadly aimed at combating financial fraud and protecting investors.

But the results of the first-time reports could throw investors some curve balls.

"The big unknown here is really what those statements are going to say," said David Richards, president of the Institute of Internal Auditors. Another uncertainty, he adds, is "how the marketplace is going to react to the statements made by management and the external auditors." Outside audit firms must sign off on a company's own assessment of its internal controls.

Sarbanes Oxley internal control rule hits today

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Rules trigger IT overhaul

Firms need a unified strategy to comply with new corporate governance rules including the US Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act, a key part of which comes into effect today, if they want to ensure efficiency and keep down costs, say experts.

SOX will be followed next year by the Operating and Financial Review (OFR), which obliges listed UK firms to produce an analysis of risks in their annual reports. And the UK's Freedom of Information Act will come into effect in January, forcing local authorities and government departments to carry out data searches in a speedy way.

Firms will have to allocate resources to comply with the new rules, so IT directors should use this as an opportunity to develop best practices and build a framework that can meet a wide range of reporting needs, said Shaun Fothergill, security strategist for software giant Computer Associates.

Rules trigger IT overhaul

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TNS Announces Turnkey Sarbanes-Oxley 409 Solution for Companies

Regulators enforcing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have focused their energies on Section 404, a provision that requires businesses to document their financial- reporting controls and procedures. But most IT managers have yet to tackle a potentially more onerous requirement: Section 409.

TNS, a South Florida company, has released its new product line of Sarbanes-Oxley 409 turnkey solutions - the TNS OBServer. It features real-time monitoring and reporting as well as real-time intrusion detection and notification - all in a single device that scales from 10 to 5000 nodes quickly and cost-effectively.

TNS Announces Turnkey Sarbanes-Oxley 409 Solution for Companies

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SEC urged to enforce Sarbanes Oxley whistle-blower law

Two senators who wrote a tough but little-understood law to protect corporate whistle-blowers are pressing the Securities and Exchange Commission for aggressive enforcement, just as a case emerges that could determine how companies are policed.

Spurred by scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and other large corporations, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. It requires chief executives to swear their companies' books are accurate. It also gives corporate whistle-blowers more protection than any previous federal law has extended to insiders who report wrongdoing.

Senators Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, and Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, who wrote the whistle-blower section, said they wanted to change a corporate culture that ''valued profit over honesty."

SEC urged to enforce Sarbanes Oxley whistle-blower law

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Sunday, November 14, 2004

Sarbox 404 Goes into Effect Tomorrow

Although many companies are reportedly not ready for it, the era of internal-controls compliance begins in earnest tomorrow. That's when Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act goes into effect for all companies whose fiscal year ends after today.

There will be nothing to file on Tuesday. But by early next year, the vast majority of companies that report on a calendar-year will have to assess the effectiveness of their internal controls over financial reporting and state in their annual reports whether the controls are operating effectively. The companies' outside auditors also must evaluate the in-house assessment and render an independent report on it.

Even though the Securities and Exchange Commission delayed the provision's implementation date twice, a large number of companies are apparently not ready for prime-time compliance with 404. Last week, PricewaterhouseCoopers chairman Dennis Nally told a packed house of largely board audit committee members in New York City that the vast majority of public companies are nowhere near ready to meet the new law's deadlines, according to BusinessWeek. "There's a lot of risk out there," Nally reportedly said.

Sarbox 404 Goes into Effect Tomorrow

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Users brace for SOX deadline

As Monday approaches and with it the deadline for compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002, IT departments are crossing the finish line with lighter wallets, still unsure whether they've got it right or how the first round of audits will turn out.

Beginning next week, companies that have publicly owned shares of more than $75 million and that have fiscal years ending on or after Nov. 15 must comply with internal control reporting and disclosure requirements of Section 404 of SOX. Companies with less than $75 million in public shares have until July 15 to comply.

To support Section 404, companies must ensure that they have the proper documentation, retention and retrieval processes in place for the financial records of their company. They must also ensure that they have a solid audit trail to account for all decisions.

Keeping up with all this has been an expensive endeavor, with companies shelling out millions of dollars for auditing fees, extra man hours and for new software and hardware that help archive and retain records.

Users brace for SOX deadline

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US starts to count cost of corporate clean up

As Sarbanes-Oxley nears full implementation the implications are clearer. As corporate America completes the final stage of a three-year marathon to reform its governance standards, attention will inevitably turn to the question of whether it has all been worth it.

This Monday marks the trigger point for the last, and most expensive, part of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation that lies at the centre of this response to scandals at Enron and WorldCom. It also comes amid an unprecedented backlash in the business community, as many executives warn that other measures being pursued by the Securities and Exchange Commissions, the Financial

The question of whether proposed restrictions on their freedom outweigh the desired improvements in company behaviour may ultimately prove impossible to measure. But the concluding chapter of Sarbanes-Oxley is now allowing some assessment of its costs, and the long-feared section on updating and documenting internal management controls may not be quite as bad as some initially feared. The dreaded Section 404 is actually quite short.

US starts to count cost of corporate clean up

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Firms struggle with Sarbanes-Oxley

The clock starts ticking on Nov. 15. Companies have only 75 days following any financial year-end after that date to comply with the key Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley reforms -- and accountants say many may soon be admitting they can't. There will also likely be disclosures from companies who discovered problems while probing their bookkeeping methods.

The key for investors will be to decipher which are systemic problems signaling a high risk of a corporate blow-up and which are minor technical issues making little impact on companies' business. If companies aren't transparent about the reasons for delays in complying, it could heighten concern.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Chairman and Senior Partner Dennis Nally said on Thursday about 10 percent of companies, based on information from 700 of the accounting firm's partners, are at "severe risk" of not finishing assessments in time for it to render an opinion on the controls.

The law requires a company's auditor to verify that management has adequate controls to ensure reliable financial reports and comply with a series of related rules.

Firms struggle with Sarbanes-Oxley