What is Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002" (and commonly called SarbOx or SOX for short).

The Act covers issues such as establishing a public company accounting oversight board, auditor independence, corporate responsibility and enhanced financial disclosure. It was designed to review the dated legislative audit requirements, and is considered one of the most significant changes to United States securities laws since the New Deal in the 1930s. The Act gives additional powers and responsibilities to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and came in the wake of a series of corporate financial scandals, including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, and WorldCom (now MCI).

It is named for sponsors Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael G. Oxley.


What compliance issues does it present?

The question we often get asked is "does your software comply with Sarbanes-Oxley?". There isn't an absolute specification for software complying with this or many other standards as such. Our software solutions are not directly aimed at specific financial management but rather at business process management and as such we look at the essence of what SOX is trying to achieve.

SOX is relatively new and as such, has not yet been around long enough for everyone to feel comfortable in the practical implementation of it. Back in the early days of BS5750 (ISO9000) it was much the same. Now of course, everyone is familiar enough with ISO9000 that they are comfortable with their own level of interpretation and implementation of the standard.

We feel that the core elements for any standard, SOX included, are those of Control, Accountability, Traceability and Visibility of the processes. For a move from a manual system to an electronic one, your I.T. systems need to provide the structure for those elements in order to allow you to build your own systems around the standard.

How can IdeaGen's software solutions help us?

Our software provides exactly that level of control, accountability, traceability and visibility at it's heart.
Documents, files and data can be stored in our secure database. Absolute controls ensure that changes adhere to the level of approval you feel appropriate. All significant steps are history recorded and un-editable with time and date stamps. Notifications and tasks are automatically sent and managed. You choose the level of control and ownership for your staff and impose business rules to ensure workflows and escalations are carried out.

Speak to us about your specific requirements or arrange to come onto one of our seminars.

Sarbanes-Oxley

Michael Oxley and Paul Sarbanes

"The nature and characteristics of a company's use of information technology in its information system affect the company's internal control over financial reporting."