How long will we need??? 1087
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Hello everybody,
I am responsible for the Sarbanes implementation at an Company outside the US which has to be compliant with the ending of your FY2006.
Since we are currently gathering our internal resources for the project we are strongly wondering how long we will need in order to finish the project.
Fey facts:
We have 6.500 Employer working in 15 Subsidiaries in Germany and making currently USD2.1 billion in revenues.
Any suggestions regarding the time-frame and estimated size of project team would be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
SAK
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That’s a bit of a ‘How long is a piece of string?’ question.
There are wide variations in time taken depending on the complexity of your business and it’s processes and how well controlled (and cdocumented) the processes are to begin with.
there are a few threads on here that should give you an idea of the steps you need to consider but I would suggest you are looking at somewhere between 5-10 people for a year.
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It really depends SAK from the way your business is organized:
- How many entities will be under scope?
- How many transaction or processes to document?
- What is the degre of uniformization or IT systems integration?
Then once the planning phasis is over including what will be deliverables after documentation done, you need to assign processes owners to each of these. Depending on the slack time that some have and their qualifications, you may rely only on internals as we did. This will have several advantage, lower cost, envolvement of many employess, improve team spirit when such project is back up by the Top Management…
Keep focus on the risks related to the financial reporting. Of course you can cover all the others related to the efficiency and effectiveness of operations, but these are not requested by SOXAct, thought part of the COSO framework.
Of course, do not negligate the timing for training and complete explanation of what is requested and why to ensure a high quality standard on the results.
Then you need to consider some months for the testing of the documentation (in our case, documents included a flow chart, a control risk matrix and the narrative), decide on the material thresholds, the type of testing, the sample … Do not neglate the timing to document the testing approach and result.
And once all weakness/deficiencies identified are mitigate, you may have external auditors around for the review of all: documentation and results of management assessment.
In case they find some others significant deficiencies/material weaknesses, consider enought time to remediate them before year end.
I would suggest to have the external auditor on the loop if they want. The more they are following the process (or envolved in), the better prepared they will be for their testing and less reluctant they might be to what you have done.
In my opinion, try to arrange this project in order that it can be a toolkit for some others internal needs too. It is important to comply with law, but if it is only that it is a burden. If you will take advantage for other objective it becomes an added value project for your company.
Good luck.
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IMHO - the team of 5-8 qaulified employee are able to successfully implement this project during the year.