Invoicing Requirements 1163



  • I was just told by a customer that because we have been renting equipment to them for over a year and I am submitting monthly invoices to them for payment without a purchase order or work order given to us by them in advance that we are not in compliance with SOX. Is this true? We have been getting paid in the past but now have invoices that are 90 days old. The same equipment set up has been out there the whole time with some modifications and repairs (water line to new housing tract).
    Thanks for your input.



  • SOX does not require POs. The company that you are dealing with may have implemented new in-house controls requiring POs for goods and services that they are purchasing as part of their SOX efforts.
    This does not excuse them from paying their bills on time, though. If a PO is what it takes, they are required to generate this on their end. If you have a valid contract with them for the services you are providing, then they are bound to honor that contract, PO or not.



  • You have run into one of the fundamental misundestandings regarding the SarBox Act: it does not have any detailed requirements. However that hasn’t kept people from using it as an excuse for situations such as yours. Not only are there not requirements regarding use of PO’s, but I would argue that in the SOX arena, that for most business models, PO’s or customer sales orders are not a key control requirement because there are additional downstream controls that you would place greater reliance upon. The bottom line is that whenever someone says to do anything because it is required by SOX, it is at best just an opinion and at worst they have another problem that they are hiding.



  • Using SOx to retain money and to get some interest on the amount is actually a good idea towards companies not aware of what 404 really is.



  • The bottom line is that whenever someone says to do anything because it is required by SOX, it is at best just an opinion and at worst they have another problem that they are hiding.
    Not to mention (unfortunately) they are trying to sell something or making a case for selling something, or, I have seen at least in IT, promoting their pet Projects/schemes in the name of SOX.


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