Tuesday, May 31, 2005

How Sarbanes-Oxley Has Affected Corporate Culture (Audio)

Linda Thomsen, director of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, discusses how the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has changed corporate culture. The law is meant to protect investors by providing more accountability and transparency of investments.

How Sarbanes-Oxley Has Affected Corporate Culture (audio)

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Monday, May 30, 2005

Sarbanes-Oxley puts a crimp on bottom line

Three years after businesses adopted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's accountability standards, the reverberations are being felt on the bottom line.

Proxy statements filed by 20 Oregon public companies showed that audit and tax fees increased by an average of 57 percent. The audit fees, made necessary by the stricter Sarbanes-Oxley rules, comprised the lion's share of the increases.

Sarbanes-Oxley puts a crimp on bottom line

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Jury raises specter of Scrushy mistrial

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ordered jurors on Thursday to keep deliberating in the trial of former HealthSouth Corp. (HLSH.PK: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Richard Scrushy, despite growing signs that they would not reach a verdict on the key charge in the high-profile corporate fraud case.

U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre, who is presiding over the federal trial in Birmingham, Alabama, issued her instructions minutes after the jury sent a note informing her that they remained divided on a lone conspiracy charge against Scrushy.

Jury raises specter of Scrushy mistrial

Tell us what you think. (1) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Teaching Finance a New Language

Four letters have long promised to revolutionize the way businesses deal with financial reports. They are XBRL, which stands for extensible business reporting language. It's a standard used to tag financial information so it can be tracked and analyzed by software applications.

But before all those applications can be built, companies first have to start creating reports in XBRL -– which they have little motivation to do since they lack programs that would make it worth their while. It's a classic chicken-and-egg problem that's in the process of being solved now, thanks to encouragement from government regulators.

On Feb. 3, the Securities & Exchange Commission announced a voluntary program (often a precursor to a mandate) to accept financial reports in XBRL (see BW Online, 2/8/05, "After Sarbanes-Oxley, XBRL?"). And some countries are well ahead of the U.S. in requiring filings in this format, says Louis Matherne, president of consortium XBRL International and the director of XBRL at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).

Teaching Finance a New Language

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Scrushy jury can't agree on verdict, asks for `layman's terms'

Jurors in the fraud trial of fired HealthSouth Corp. CEO Richard Scrushy told the judge Tuesday they couldn't reach a verdict and needed an explanation "in layman terms."

The message came in a three-sentence note passed to U.S. District Judge Karon Bowdre during the fourth day of deliberations.

The handwritten note said: "We cannot unanimously agree on a verdict. We need an explanation in layman terms. We would like your explanation in private if possible."

Jacksonville.com: Florida AP News: Scrushy jury can't agree on verdict, asks for `layman's terms' 5/24/05: "Scrushy jury can't agree on verdict, asks for `layman's terms'"

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Sarbanes-Oxley`s not the solution

As the subject of corporate governance becomes more relevant and important than ever before, we must not miss the woods for the trees. We must remember that many of the companies in the US which ran into big trouble, had all the corporate governance mechanisms in place, at least on paper.

For example, the Enron board was a model board. When Enron declared bankruptcy, it was in full compliance with the governance provisions of the much publicised Sarbanes-Oxley Act, with the exception of loans to some corporate officers.

Enron also had a truly independent board. Only Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling were insiders in a board of 14 directors. Many of the directors were highly qualified.

Opinion & Analysis: "Sarbanes-Oxley`s not the solution"

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

How Sarbanes Oxley is Changing Big-Four Tax Services

The cover story of the April issue of International Tax Review exposes how tax executives doing business in North America have changed the way they receive tax advice as a result of the ground- breaking Sarbanes Oxley Act. The law is also affecting tax services from the big-four professional services firms (Ernst & Young, PriceWaterhouseCoopers,Deloitte and KPMG).

International Tax Review's annual survey of the North American market for international tax services showed that the audit-committee-approval process that the Sarbanes Oxley Act demands, mean that more than half of the tax executives surveyed said they have stopped, or plan to stop within the next 12 months, receiving tax advice from their auditor.

Canada NewsWire Group: "How Sarbanes Oxley is Changing Big-Four Tax Services"

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Bankers seek relief from Sarbanes-Oxley

When David Taber first saw Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, designed to thwart fraud at public companies, it didn't look like much.

Now, the roughly 85 words in the act could cost his Sacramento-based community bank an extra half a million dollars and require the hiring of a full-time staffer to handle compliance.

Bankers seek relief from Sarbanes-Oxley

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Sarbanes-Oxley: Three years later

It was October 2001, and the country was reeling from the shock of the terrorist attacks on our homeland. Yet another blow was about to be dealt that would impact our capital markets in ways unimaginable at the time. That same October, Enron, a high-flying energy company headquartered in Houston, announced a restatement of its financial results that would begin a crisis in confidence in our capital markets. As Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission debated proposed reforms, another giant, WorldCom, announced its own massive restatement amid speculation of management fraud.

Sarbanes-Oxley: Three years later

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Monday, May 23, 2005

Wall Street: Time to Invest in Some More E-Storage Space

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer taught corporate America that e-mails can get you in big trouble. Now a Florida judge has ruled that the e-mails you don't have may carry massive liabilities. This lesson stems from a case settled last week in which a jury ordered Morgan Stanley to pay about $1.45 billion to Ronald Perelman. Perelman held a major stake in a Morgan client, appliance maker Sunbeam Corp., which later filed for bankruptcy protection. Perelman claimed that Morgan cost him big bucks by withholding information about Sunbeam's financial problems, a charge that Morgan denies. But the jury never got to decide whether Perelman had actually been defrauded. Instead, Judge Elizabeth Maass handed Perelman his victory by instructing the jury to accept his story; Morgan, she ruled, acted in bad faith on another matter: the firm dragged its feet in turning over documents, including large numbers of e-mails going back nearly a decade. Morgan, for its part, says that it was difficult to find all the information demanded by the court and is appealing the ruling.

Wall Street: Time to Invest in Some More E-Storage Space

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance far from a science

When Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley financial disclosure act in 2002, it was largely in response to the accounting scandals at public companies like Enron, WorldCom and Tyco.

Now, three years later, public companies have dealt with the massive undertaking of painstakingly documenting their internal accounting controls and verifying that their chief financial officials have verified the numbers to be accurate. Simply, they have to be able to prove the solidity of their numbers and assure the public that an accounting problem of the magnitude of Enron isn’t on the horizon.

Sarbanes-Oxley compliance far from a science

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Help! I can't remember my p@$$w0rd!

Leave the desk for 10 minutes, and the computer screen goes dead. Why must I sign in all over again? ''Sarbanes-Oxley,'' says the poor soul in the tech department.

Another memo arrives from the people who control the machines on which we work: You must now have yet another, different, impossible-to-remember password for yet another computer program, for a total of five passwords to work on one machine. And not only must those passwords all be different, but they also must change every few weeks. Why? ''Sarbanes-Oxley,'' comes the reply.

Help! I can't remember my http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11713898.htm!

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Sarbanes-Oxley Symposium - ISACA

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has changed how we do business. In an effort to prepare IT professionals and others responsible for internal control and the quality and integrity of information generated by IT systems, a critical requirement of Sarbanes-Oxley, ISACA® is excited to present the third in a series of unique and comprehensive symposia focusing on IT controls.

In the previous symposia, topics included the importance of IT in the design, implementation and sustainability of internal controls over financial reporting; the significance of company-level controls, application controls, business cycle controls and system interfaces; and outsourcing and service providers.

Sarbanes-Oxley Symposium

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Business Ethics Training - CTI

Finally...an employee ethics training that is powerful & effective, yet easy to purchase and implement. In fact, it's so easy that you can literally train immediately after receiving the program! Whether your company has 10 or 10,000 employees, look no further than Character Training International (CTI) to be your one-stop ethics training provider.

CTI Business Ethics Training

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Training - Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance - Midi Corp

Sarbanes-Oxley emphasizes that all employees have a responsibility in reporting suspicions of financial fraud at a company. Because employees can be a company's best defense against violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the course is designed to resonate with all employees who may become aware of incidents of financial fraud. A video-based story about a fictional company under pressure to "make the numbers" serves as the dramatic backdrop as learners dissect what is going wrong while watching events spiral out of control.

Learning Objectives


Know what to do if financial fraud is discovered.
- Understand how whistleblowers play an important role in preventing financial fraud.
- Understand how the legal system and company policy protect whistleblowers.
- Learn how to avoid liability when responding to government investigations.
- Recognize the importance of dealing honestly with auditors.
- Identify penalties for failing to comply with the law.


Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Training

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Sarbanes Oxley Training - Unitek

Unitek’s Intensive Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX 1) training session will assist you in exploring the key people, process, and technology issues that come into play when applying compliance strategies to solve the Sarbanes-Oxley 404 requirements and activities.

Unitek’s Intensive Sarbanes-Oxley (Sox II) seminar focuses on IT auditing and controls for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance with hands on practices. Learn the latest practices for information technology management tasks, key concepts and methods for performing IT audits, and how to identify key IT risk areas in the enterprise.

Unitek’s Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) Bootcamp is specifically designed to provide CISM candidates with the effective skills necessary to develop, manage, and supervise programs to defend against unauthorized admittance to information.

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

SOX Training - ManSims

ManSims is pleased to introduce the new Sarbanes-Oxley § 404 Compliance Workshop as a unique training 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 § 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 § 404 Compliancy Project for one organization, and you’ll be infinitely more qualified to do your next one!

Our Management Simulations utilize advanced software technologies, incorporating Artificial Intelligence, Neural Networks and Heuristics. There are literally thousands of variations of inputs and no two Simulation runs can ever produce the same results. A bit like life. If you are not intimately familiar with the extraordinary facets of Management Simulations, we implore you to review our page, Why Simulation Makes It Different, and understand more how powerful a learning environment is woven into a Simulation.


Specializing In Sarbanes Oxley Compliance, Project Management, Leadership and Change Management Training.

About Us: ManSims - Specializing In Sarbanes Oxley Compliance, Project Management, Leadership and Change Management Training.

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

SOX Ethics Training - ELT Inc

Interactive training course of ethics and code of conduct for employers and employees.

We are living in a new era of corporate governance that demands your organization pay close attention to practiced ethics and legal compliance. This commitment must be shared by everyone – from front line employees to the highest-ranking executives.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 20021 and recent amendments to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines2 require education of the entire workforce on ethical behavior, as well as your Code of Conduct. Beyond ensuring compliance with these new rules and guidelines, effective ethics and legal compliance programs come with a proven, bottom line ROI3.

For these reasons, every 21st century employer should adopt a comprehensive ethics and compliance program that includes high-quality, effective training. Training must go beyond the communication of policies to truly impact behavior, facilitate cultural change and reduce risk.

ELT Inc : Interactive training course of ethics and code of conduct for employers and employees

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

SOX Training - "Now I Can Do It" Training

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires that audit committees, management and auditors assume responsibility for the implementation of certain processes that assist in the protection of the investing public. Each public company is affected differently by the Act and compliance will require a unique approach in each case.

Now I Can Do It can help you document existing policies and procedures, develop new procedures and policies and identify areas of weakness and actions needed to ensure that your policies and procedures are operating with effective controls.

We can use several methods to build the business process and risk repository for you. We are currently using Oracle Tutor ® and Oracle Internal Controls Manager ® software to gather this information and to identify risk and control information specifically related to financial reporting for one of our clients.

Now I Can Do It Training Sarbanes Oxley

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Sarbanes-Oxley Training - Matrix CIO Partners

SOX101
- Three day class - Best Practices in Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Internal Controls Assessment and Testing

Day One - Assessment of Internal Controls over Significant Accounts

Day Two - Methodologies for testing and documenting the Internal Controls Infrastructure

Day Three - Choosing Sarbanes-Oxley software and developing on-going monitoring
mechanisms

Sarbanes-Oxley Training

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Sarbanes-Oxley Training - SIRCO Consultants, Inc

This is a full-day interactive program; half-day executive summaries are also available.

SARBANES-OXLEY TRAINING COURSE CONTENT
The following topics are available:

- History and background behind Sarbanes-Oxley
- Significant aspects of Sarbanes-Oxley
- Section 302
- Section 404

The COSO Framework

Understanding the importance of SOX as it relates to:
- Annual Reports
- Management's report and evaluation
- Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
- Documentation
- Testing
- Preventing fraud
- Code of ethics/policies and procedures
- Whistle blowing
- Function-specific interactive exercises
Other Company specific topics, as requested

Sarbanes-Oxley Training

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Training - Forrest Breyfogle: Makes Sarbanes-Oxley Work for You

"Benefiting from Sarbanes-Oxley Requirements Through Beyond Lean Six Sigma Techniques" commences on July 19, 2005. VPs, Directors and Managers in the areas of Internal Audit, Sarbanes-Oxley Implementation, Accounting, Finance & Control and Corporate Compliance amongst others are invited to network and learn from Founder, CEO and President of Smarter Solutions, Forrest Breyfogle.


Mr. Breyfogle is an expert in the area of Lean and Six Sigma and has contributed to the advancement of these topics by authoring the famous "Implementing Six Sigma" and co-authoring novels that explain the benefits of Six Sigma including "Wisdom on the Green."


Forrest Breyfogle: Makes Sarbanes-Oxley Work for You

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Friday, May 20, 2005

Delayed corporate filings show effects of Sarbanes-Oxley

Dozens of companies delayed filing their financial reports for the most recent quarter, continuing an already sharp increase in late filings this year as new corporate-governance regulations take hold.

At least 77 companies with market capitalizations of more than $100 million recently notified the SEC they would need more time to finish their quarterly reports — more than double the 36 companies of that size with delays in the first quarter of 2004, according to a tally by Glass Lewis & Co., a San Francisco research and proxy-advisery firm.

Delayed corporate filings show effects of Sarbanes-Oxley

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

A price worth paying?

America's response to Enron and other scandals was the Sarbanes-Oxley law. It is costing plenty—but is it working?

THE Sarbanes-Oxley statute, which the United States enacted in an atmosphere of extraordinary agitation in 2002, is one of the most influential—and controversial—pieces of corporate legislation ever to have hit a statute book. Its original aim, on the face of it, was modest: to improve the accountability of managers to shareholders, and hence to calm the raging crisis of confidence in American capitalism aroused by the scandals at Enron, WorldCom and other companies. The law's methods, however, were anything but modest, and its implications, for good or ill, are going to be far-reaching.

A price worth paying?

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Stellent named as key player in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance

Stellent is one of the companies named as a strong performer in helping companies meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a new report from Forrester.

For the report, The Forrester Wave: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Software, Q1 2005, Forrester interviewed and surveyed 10 software vendors whom it regarded as market leaders. Of those 10 only two - Stellent and IBM - were from the enterprise content management (ECM) space.

Stellent named as key player in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Leading Companies Reveal Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Best Practices in New Report

How can Sarbanes-Oxley Section404 compliance transition to a sustainable process for companies? To find out, senior officers from twenty-seven Fortune 500 companiesgathered under the auspices of Financial Executives International (FEI) toshare their practices, pitfalls, and successes during year-one implementationof Section 404 and make practical Sarbanes-Oxley recommendations forsustainability.

The findings of their intensive one-day interaction are found in thereport "Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Implementation - Practices of LeadingCompanies," published by Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF), theresearch arm of FEI. The report also outlines some of the unintendedconsequences of Section 404 compliance.

Leading Companies Reveal Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Best Practices in New Report

"Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Implementation - Practices of LeadingCompanies" can be ordered online at http://www.FEI.org/rfbookstore or bycontacting Lorna Raagas at (973) 765-1033. The report is $99.00.

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Monday, May 16, 2005

PCAOB Issues Guidance on Audits of Internal Control

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board today published additional guidance to auditors on how to implement the PCAOB’s Auditing Standard No. 2, "An Audit of Internal Control over Financial Reporting Performed in Conjunction with an Audit of Financial Statements.”

The guidance consists of a Board Policy Statement Regarding Implementation of Auditing Standard No. 2 and a series of staff questions and answers. The questions and answers provide technical guidance to auditors on how to use the provisions and underlying principles of Auditing Standard No. 2 to conduct effective and cost-efficient audits of public companies’ internal control over financial reporting.

PCAOB Issues Guidance on Audits of Internal Control

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Scrushy verdict likely rests on testimony

For all the dozens of witnesses who testified for and against Richard Scrushy during his fraud trial, the fate of the fired HealthSouth Corp. chief executive may hang on whether jurors believe just a handful.

Prosecutors built their case around five former HealthSouth finance chiefs who pleaded guilty to participating in a $2.7 billion fraud and who all -- with varying degrees of detail -- told jurors Scrushy was in deep, too. One of them, Bill Owens, even wore a wire for the FBI.

Scrushy verdict likely rests on testimony

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Greenspan touts ethics to new MBAs

In a speech short on policy but long on appeals to their better natures, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told a group of graduates Sunday that government regulation of business is no substitute for self-imposed standards of ethical behavior.

In a prepared text released by the Fed on Sunday, Greenspan told the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School MBA Class of 2005 that "laws guide only a few of the day-to-day decisions required of business and financial managers. The rest are governed by whatever personal code of values market participants bring to the table."

Greenspan touts ethics to new MBAs

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Friday, May 13, 2005

RSA Readying Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA Compliance Package

RSA Security announced Wednesday that it will ship in June a tool to help IT organizations that are already using the company’s event-logging software to comply with new rules required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPAA and other regulations.

RSA Reporting & Compliance Manager provides centralized reporting capabilities aimed at helping customers of RSA ClearTrust more easily comply with the security requirements associated with regulations emanating from recently enacted laws. Reporting and Compliance Manager leverages ClearTrust’s logging capabilities to provide auditing and reporting functions that let organizations report on both past and present access policies, and on user behavior, according to a company statement.

RSA Readying Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA Compliance Package

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Discriminating data storage vital for SOX compliance

A well thought-out data retention and retrieval plan, is crucial for effective Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance, according to one Canadian expert.

Absence of such a plan may cause a company may “lose” vital information amid the profusion of data stored, said Sunny Handa, a partner with Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, a business law firm in Montreal, Que.

: "

A well thought-out data retention and retrieval plan, is crucial for effective Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance, according to one Canadian expert.

Absence of such a plan may cause a company may lose vital information amid the profusion of data stored, said Sunny Handa, a partner with Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, a business law firm in Montreal, Que. "

Tell us what you think. (1) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Accountants riding the Sarbanes-Oxley wave

To anyone who ever said ''I want to be an accountant when I grow up,'' your time has come.

Over the past two years, accountants and other employees at Iron Mountain Inc., the Boston-based records-management company, have put in over 40,000 extra hours of work, estimates Jean Bua, the company's corporate controller and chief accounting officer.

Accountants riding the Sarbanes-Oxley wave

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Oxley: Regulators Can Ease Pain Of Corp Governance Law

Regulators and accountants offer the best chance to reduce excessive business burdens from the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance law, as legislative fixes are unrealistic at this point, a co-author of the law said Friday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board are trying to refine costly and unnecessary accounting treatment of banks and other businesses since the law's passage in a frenzied atmosphere of plunging stock prices and corporate governance scandals at Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc., said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley, R-Ohio.

WSJ.com - Oxley: Regulators Can Ease Pain Of Corp Governance Law

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Survey: Sarbanes-Oxley has big impact

Sixty-eight percent of U.S. corporate IT executives said complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is having a major impact on their IT operations, according to a new survey.

Mercury Interactive Corp. and the Economis Intelligence Unit questioned 800 IT executives in 22 countries about Sarbanes-Oxley, which established new requirements for corporate governance and financial disclosure.

Survey: Sarbanes-Oxley has big impact

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Training - Axentis, Jefferson Wells and IBM Launch Sarbanes-Oxley Seminar Series

Axentis, Inc., a leading provider of Governance Risk and Compliance (GRC) software, Jefferson Wells, Inc., a global provider of professional services in the areas of risk, controls, compliance, tax and financial process improvement, and IBM, the world's largest information technology company, today announced the launch of a Sarbanes-Oxley seminar series in Los Angeles, Houston and Philadelphia. Drawing upon primary research, industry experts and established technologies, the series will focus on getting organized for sustained compliance, executing a well-defined process and leveraging Sarbanes-Oxley investments beyond 404 and 302 compliance.

Axentis, Jefferson Wells and IBM Launch Sarbanes-Oxley Seminar Series

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

SOX compliance costing companies big time

As of March, publicly held companies have spent an average of $4.4 million to meet mandates within the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Large companies have devoted at least twice that amount, mainly to find and fix flaws in internal controls before annual reports are submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Meantime, organizations are creating new C-level titles such as chief risk officer and chief governance officer to oversee this surge in spending. And the ranks working under them are swelling with IT security professionals.

SOX compliance costing companies big time

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

CEI CALLS FOR REPEAL OF SARBANES-OXLEY

As entrepreneurs come to the Securities and Exchange Commission today to share their frustration about section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Competitive Enterprise Institute calls on Congress and President Bush to repeal this unfair law in its entirety.

“To deal with the problem of a few big business bad apples, Congress created a web of costs and mandates that are shackling innovation,” says Fred L. Smith, Jr., president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “These rules disproportionately hurt the innovative entrepreneurs who run small public companies. And they've turned out to be a form of corporate welfare for the accounting industry that many wanted to punish after the scandals.”

CEI CALLS FOR REPEAL OF SARBANES-OXLEY

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Sarbanes- Oxley Act spurring technology

To prove that it isn’t issuing paychecks to fictitious burger-flippers, McDonald’s Corp. has turned to specialized software.

Like most publicly traded U.S. companies, the fast-food giant has spent much of the past year documenting and testing its “internal controls,” or procedures designed to ensure the accuracy of its financial data. This massive effort was triggered by the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate-overhaul law of 2002, which among other things requires public companies to submit annual reports on their internal controls to the Securities and Exchange Commission, with the first such reports due this year for many companies. External auditors must review the reports.

Sarbanes- Oxley Act spurring technology

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Deriving Value from Corporate Values

From the Aspen Institute - "Deriving Value from Corporate Values"

The report identifies the results of a global study to bring greater clarity around how companies define corporate values, to expand on research about the relationship of values to business performance, and to identify best practices for managing corporate values.

Deriving Value from Corporate Values

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Monday, May 09, 2005

Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Work: Looking at the Benefits

If you have management struggling to understand the costs and challenges of Sarbanes Oxley, this may be the one summary that finally gets the message across.

Companies have struggled in implementing the internal control provisions of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Costs have been high. However, few studies have systematically looked at the benefits. This report surveys 171 chief audit executives (CAEs) and internal audit managers to help identify the specific benefits associated with Section 404 work. It identifies control improvements that have taken place as a direct result of Section 404 evaluations. It also identifies lessons learned that can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of control evaluations in the future.

This excellent resource is a product of the IIA Research Foundation. A $40 contribution is suggested.

Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Work: Looking at the Benefits

Tell us what you think. (1) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Silicon Valley Watcher: Veteran VC Tim Draper slams Sarbanes Oxley as backlash builds in Silicon Valley to burdensome regulations

Tim Draper, veteran Silicon Valley venture capitalist (Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson), has hit out at the heavy burdens which the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and increased government regulations have placed on U.S. companies.

In an interview in “The Ledger” (an email newsletter published Thursday by his public relations company representative, Launchsquad), Mr. Draper states his suspicion that, when it comes to improving corporate governance, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) “will have the exact opposite effect that it intended.”

Mr. Draper is one of a very few speaking out publicly on this issue. Many CEOs have told me that “these regulations are killing us.” The requirements for compliance with SOX financial regulations are substantial, and can typically cost a company at least $2m extra in expenses. This, and health care costs, have become huge burdens and management distractions for both startups and large companies.

Silicon Valley Watcher: Veteran VC Tim Draper slams Sarbanes Oxley as backlash builds in Silicon Valley to burdensome regulations

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Putting a Price Tag on Sarbanes-Oxley

Hackett benchmarking study aims to uncover true cost of internal controls over financial reporting and compliance

Atlanta, GA — May 6, 2005 — Business advisory firm The Hackett Group has launched a new benchmarking study designed to quantify the total cost of internal controls over financial reporting and compliance, and to provide, for the first time, detailed information about the total cost of financial reporting, controls and compliance related to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbox).

Putting a Price Tag on Sarbanes-Oxley

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Financial Compliance Issues and Solutions Take Center Stage at Geac's ALLIANCE2005 Conference

MARKHAM, ON and SOUTHBOROUGH, MA, May 3 /CNW/ - Pressing financial compliance obligations confronting business leaders, and various technology solutions for addressing them, will be among the topics addressed at Geac's(R) (TSX:GAC, NASDAQ:GEAC) ALLIANCE2005 conference in Orlando, Florida next week. Registration for the conference, which also features a Q&A session with former General Electric Company CEO Jack Welch moderated by Geac President and CEO Charles S. Jones, is still available online at http://alliance.geac.com/.

Accounting Software 411 - Financial Compliance Issues and Solutions Take Center Stage at Geac's ALLIANCE2005 Conference

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

What Does Your CEO Really Know? - CFO Magazine - May Issue 2005 - CFO.com

What Does Your CEO Really Know?

How much do chief executives know about company finances? We asked more than 300 CFOs to rate their boss's finance IQ.

See how CFOs grade their CEOs' finance knowledge

How much does any CEO know about his company's finances? How much should he know? Those are the central questions in the trials of several chief executives accused of masterminding their companies' massive accounting scandals. These CEOs claim they knew nothing of the financial machinations that rocked their companies. In each case, they insist, a manipulative and conniving CFO acted alone.

What Does Your CEO Really Know? - CFO Magazine - May Issue 2005 - CFO.com

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Survey: Sarbanes-Oxley has big impact

Compliance to Sarbanes-Oxley and to similar regulations in the 22 countries was cited as one of the greatest challenges facing IT managers by more than 80 percent of the largest companies in the Asia-Pacific region, 74 percent of U.S. companies, and 45 percent of the largest Middle-Eastern companies, the report said.

“The survey results show that compliance mandates are impacting IT worldwide,” said Christopher Lochhead, chief marketing officer at Mercury. “Compliance mandates require changes in business processes, which in turn require changes to business-critical applications. Companies are implementing IT Governance strategies and software to establish a sustainable approach to making these changes and lowering the cost and risk to the business.”

Survey: Sarbanes-Oxley has big impact

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Evaluating Control Deficiencies under PCAOB Auditing Standard No 2

A useful (if simplistic) guide to considerations of deficiencies in monitoring your control environment, this brief provides some clear definition of terms and considerations in this evaluative work.

Evaluating Control Deficiencies under PCAOB Auditing Standard No 2

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend:   

Monday, May 02, 2005

Sarbanes-Oxley: Tech's big complaint of 2005

SOX became law nearly two-and-a-half years ago, in the wake of a string of corporate financial scandals that nearly wrecked public confidence. The idea was to force companies to eliminate "creative accounting" and accurately report what was going on. SOX also carried the threat of penalties if the folks at the top of the company--the chief executive, the chief financial officer and the board of directors--failed to certify that the numbers were accurate and that they had reviewed internal controls, identifying any concerns they might have come across.

Sarbanes-Oxley: Tech's big complaint of 2005

Tell us what you think. (0) comments.
Send to a friend: