February 23, 2005
Here is your chance to talk about Section 404
The SEC wants to know what you think about the implementation of internal controls. You can submit your comments on www.sec.gov website. This is a good chance to make constructive well thought out comments.
"SEC seeks Sarbanes-Oxley feedback
Nick SnowWashington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 22 -- The US Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a roundtable discussion Apr. 13 in Washington, DC, on implementation of Sect. 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
The federal securities regulator also solicited written comments from registrants, auditing firms, and others who are implementing the new internal-control requirements as they prepare annual financial reports to SEC.
The commission emphasized that it is seeking comments about implementing the internal financial control procedures and not feedback about a specific set of inquiries. It plans to make submissions part of the public record and intends to post them, as submitted, on its web site." For the complete article, click here.
To find out more about how the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm) can help streamline your Section 404 project, see www.issuescentral.com
"SEC seeks Sarbanes-Oxley feedback
Nick SnowWashington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 22 -- The US Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a roundtable discussion Apr. 13 in Washington, DC, on implementation of Sect. 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
The federal securities regulator also solicited written comments from registrants, auditing firms, and others who are implementing the new internal-control requirements as they prepare annual financial reports to SEC.
The commission emphasized that it is seeking comments about implementing the internal financial control procedures and not feedback about a specific set of inquiries. It plans to make submissions part of the public record and intends to post them, as submitted, on its web site." For the complete article, click here.
To find out more about how the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm) can help streamline your Section 404 project, see www.issuescentral.com
February 21, 2005
Security Testing Important Everyday for Critical Financial Systems
After the auditors leave, companies are only required to do quarterly testing of the their controls. But systems and networks are living organisms and they change every day. Therefore, dectection of problems in systems should be ongoing not just quarterly. This is not about Sarbanes-Oxley, this is about system security that is under daily attack by hackers.
An article addressing this subject is here:
"An important thing to remember is networks change on a constant basis. Forward thinking companies are at least able to account for all network devices on a daily basis, and provide historical, auditable records for these assets. As the security and compliance teams work their way from the inside out, they find that if networks are not architected correctly, or a firewall setting is incorrect, the financial system is accessible to the entire company, not just the finance department. The only way to measure and stay up to date is with an automated discovery process." For the complete article, click here.
To learn more about how your company can stay ahead of Sarbanes-Oxley challenges, see www.issuescentral.com to see how the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm) provides a cost effective and rapid development tool.
An article addressing this subject is here:
"An important thing to remember is networks change on a constant basis. Forward thinking companies are at least able to account for all network devices on a daily basis, and provide historical, auditable records for these assets. As the security and compliance teams work their way from the inside out, they find that if networks are not architected correctly, or a firewall setting is incorrect, the financial system is accessible to the entire company, not just the finance department. The only way to measure and stay up to date is with an automated discovery process." For the complete article, click here.
To learn more about how your company can stay ahead of Sarbanes-Oxley challenges, see www.issuescentral.com to see how the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm) provides a cost effective and rapid development tool.
February 08, 2005
Section 404 Compliance Weaknesses are Being Reported
It is no surprise that companies of all sizes are reporting internal control weaknesses. Many experts are surprised at the number of companies reporting problems because they have had so much time to remediate them. But many companies used spreadsheets, documents and manually developed flowcharts, that their process documentation probably took so long and had inconsistencies, that time to remediate was not enough. This is most likely further complicated by the fact that the economy over the last few years has been tough so companies have been running lean - meaning that segregation of duties will be the number one personnel issue they face.
From a Compliance Week Subscription Article issued today:
"Weaknesses related to financial systems and procedures typically involve the financial close process, account reconciliation, or inventory processes. $3.8 billion industrial manufacturer Terex, for example, cited problems "as they relate to the recording of certain intercompany transactions."
Personnel issues were the second most common type of weakness and deficiency disclosures. In January, 21 percent of the disclosures were related to personnel problems, which typically involve poor segregation of duties, inadequate staffing, or related training or supervision problems. J&J Snack Foods Corp., for example, cited problems with "segregation of duties in some of our disbursements, inventory and purchasing functions." $177.6 million Flow International cited "insufficient staffing of the accounting and financial reporting function."
To find out more about how your company can help determine and remediate problems in internal controls, see www.issuescentral.com and learn more about the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm).
From a Compliance Week Subscription Article issued today:
"Weaknesses related to financial systems and procedures typically involve the financial close process, account reconciliation, or inventory processes. $3.8 billion industrial manufacturer Terex, for example, cited problems "as they relate to the recording of certain intercompany transactions."
Personnel issues were the second most common type of weakness and deficiency disclosures. In January, 21 percent of the disclosures were related to personnel problems, which typically involve poor segregation of duties, inadequate staffing, or related training or supervision problems. J&J Snack Foods Corp., for example, cited problems with "segregation of duties in some of our disbursements, inventory and purchasing functions." $177.6 million Flow International cited "insufficient staffing of the accounting and financial reporting function."
To find out more about how your company can help determine and remediate problems in internal controls, see www.issuescentral.com and learn more about the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm).
February 04, 2005
Sarbanes-Oxley Projects
After working this week with a particularly well run Sarbanes-Oxley project, it occurs to me that if a company embraces this process, there is huge benefit. To really disaggregate all key processes in a company and closely examine their controls and operation, is something companies do not take the time to do. We should all do this. It is valuable. Companies, even small one, are really quite complex organisms. They deserve this "under the microscope" treatment to assure that operations are running as expected.
Forget Sarbanes-Oxley, what about just plain fraud and inefficiency? These should be the reasons that this process should be undertaken. It is really instructive for a company to understand how and why it really does things. Often, there is so much activity occuring that management does not even know about. Some of this activity is necessary and some is not. But nonetheless, it may not be in the company's best interest. The more complex processes are, the more they are subject to fraud - harder to understand and validate.
Sarbanes-Oxley projects are on the surface costly but in reality, this close examination may save companies millions of dollars in fraud that is avoided. Think about that for now.
Issues Central helps companies expedite their Sarbanes-Oxley projects and receive real benefit and an ability to deploy the information to their employees for real use and benefit. To find out more, see www.issuescentral.com and see the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm)
Forget Sarbanes-Oxley, what about just plain fraud and inefficiency? These should be the reasons that this process should be undertaken. It is really instructive for a company to understand how and why it really does things. Often, there is so much activity occuring that management does not even know about. Some of this activity is necessary and some is not. But nonetheless, it may not be in the company's best interest. The more complex processes are, the more they are subject to fraud - harder to understand and validate.
Sarbanes-Oxley projects are on the surface costly but in reality, this close examination may save companies millions of dollars in fraud that is avoided. Think about that for now.
Issues Central helps companies expedite their Sarbanes-Oxley projects and receive real benefit and an ability to deploy the information to their employees for real use and benefit. To find out more, see www.issuescentral.com and see the Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Playbook(tm)
