The effect of Sarbanes Oxley on U.K. projects 630



  • Hi everyone,
    I’m an MBA student at Surrey University, and I’m about to start a 20,000 word dissertation focusing specifically on how the Sarbanes Oxley Act will affect U.K. projects. My initial thinking is that it won’t affect them that much, due to the U.K. having the Combined Code of Corporate Governance, which has a fairly similar role to that of SOX.
    However, I would be really grateful if anyone can give me their opinions and any useful weblinks to on this subject. In particular :

    1. Are there any major differences between SOX and the Combined Code of Corporate Governance that are likely to affect U.K. projects ?
    2. In your opinion, are U.K. projects that are affected by SOX so over-regulated that some viable projects never get started due to too much red tape ?
    3. With SOX, will a project manager have to justify their motive for starting a project (i.e. can they admit their project is for political rather than financial reasons) ?
    4. To what extent do you think SOX will affect U.K projects ?
      Thank you for all your help.


  • Regarding 3,
    SOx doesn’t care if you are running a good practice or a poor one (financially)
    It’s just interested in the control environment



  • _at_MBAStudent
    If you want to email me I am working on a SOX project for a major UK multinational and I live only 5 miles from University of Surrey - contact me via messenger if you want



  • Hi Denis,
    I’ve e-mailed you under my surrey.ac.uk account. Many thanks for all your support on this.



  • Many thanks to all that are helping on this - Denis especially.
    I have now accumulated a substantial amount of information and knowledge on SOX and how it is affecting UK project risk management. It’s getting to the point where I am now dreaming about SOX in my sleep. How sad is that ?
    😉
    I think Denis and Mr Lekatis have discussed this on another thread, about SOX auditing being hard to access due to breaking data protection acts. in fact, I had an interview lined up with KPMG who blew me out at the last minute, precisely because of this act. Therefore, finding any UK project workers who are able to discuss anything SOX related at all has been very tricky, despite me guaranteeing complete confidentiality and asking general, rather than company specific, questions.
    Does anybody have any idea how I can get in touch with someone who can give me an interview about SOX project auditing without breaking the data protection act ?
    If anyone has any suggestions, I would be most grateful .



  • I am now dreaming about SOX in my sleep. How sad is that ?
    Same as the rest of us then… Welcome you are.
    My suggestion is to get in touch with D-and-T.
    The D-and-T people I’ve met with are very friendly and open, which they should be, we’re paying their bills, but I still find them more willing to talk than any other big 4 company



  • I am now dreaming about SOX in my sleep. How sad is that ? %0ASame as the rest of us then… Welcome you are. %0AI know. I think what makes it even more tragic is that I don’t actually even have a SOX job, just a SOX dissertation.%0A My suggestion is to get in touch with D-and-T.%0AThe D-and-T people I’ve met with are very friendly and open, which they should be, we’re paying their bills, but I still find them more willing to talk than any other big 4 company %0A…and therein lies my problem. I find that often when you approach the big 4 companies, unless you have/know a specific contact, then you get some generalised e-mail address to send requests to that you can bet your bottom dollar no-one reads. Obviously, if anyone knows anyone within the big four who doesn’t mind being interviewed completely off the record with 100% confidentiality guaranteed, if you could let me know how to get in touch with them, I’d be very grateful.%0AHaving said that, I will approach D-and-T off the bat anyway. Many thanks IrquiM … Just out of interest, what is your role with SOX in your company ?%0A 😄



  • I am in the Central SOx Team (4 persons) in the group which has multiple locations in all the parts of the world. USD1 billion revenue company
    We are responsible for helping the Local SOx coordinators, QA’ing the documentation that is going to the auditors, internal testing, being the auditors SOx contact within the group, etc. (ie. everything)


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