Small businesses and sarbanes compliance 1517



  • Hello all,
    I have been following the current discussion surrounding smaller businesses and the perception that it would be too expensive to be Sox compliant. This debate has manifested itself in a confrontation with the SEC and the government asking for laxer terms for compliance or a get out of jail free card for the compliance. I have an alternative that I would like to share with the group.
    Over the last 4 years a large group of very talented independent consultants have worked on SOX projects. Through this work we have become very familiar with the act and what it takes for a companie to apply and test controls. The main issue for the smaller businesses is the cost of compliance which breaks down into ‘how do I afford to pay USD200 an hour for a Big 4 consultant’. So I would like too offer an alternative.
    These smaller businesses can use independent consultants to achieve thier SOX compliance. I am pretty sure that most of us could offer pricing that could undercut the Big 4 and still be a nice sum. What we need to do is get our voices heard. I attempted to write Mr. Sarbanes and Mr. Oxley but could not because I am not a constituant of thier states (Maryland and Ohio) so I wrote my senator (Dick Durbin of Illinois) instead but haven’t gotten any response.
    The tone of these hearing over SOX is that they are looking for alternatives for smaller businesses so they can be compliant but not go bankrupt in the process. So what I am asking is that everyone please send an email to your senator or representative and let them know that there is an alternative (especially those in Ohio and Maryland). It won’t take a lot of time and who knows maybe common sense will prevail and we can all get a little work out of this.
    Thank you for your time and please let me know what you think.
    Gale Irvin


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