New to SOX, general - novice qusetions. 1734



  • Hi yall, and thanks in advance for any time spent answering my dumb questions.
    What does it mean to be in year 1, year 2, year 3?
    Who in the end says to a company, You are in Compliance,the BIG 4?
    What basic deadlines and common knowledge would come up in any SOX discussion?
    I guess any basic, beginner info is well appreciated.
    8O



  • Hi there,
    Here are some answers to your questions:
    What does it mean to be in year 1, year 2, year 3? Those would be the years of compliance you are in so your first year of SOX compliance would be year one and so on.
    Who in the end says to a company, You are in Compliance, the BIG 4? First, your company has to determine whether or not you are in compliance. Second (and more importantly) your external audit firm has to agree or disagree with your company’s opinion. It doesn’t have to be a big 4 accounting firm but the firm must be registered with the PCAOB - see the list of firms here: pcaobus.org/Registration/Registered_Firms.pdf
    What basic deadlines and common knowledge would come up in any SOX discussion?
    Well, deadlines are set by the SEC typically. See here: forbes.com/leadership/2006/08/15/sec-sarbanes-oxley-cx_0816oxford.html
    Sox discussions are very interesting and open up opportunities for you to learn a great deal about your company. I have performed over a dozen SOX implementations and at every one, I am able to find something shocking to the owners / Executives. Anywhere from two or more people doing the same job and they didn’t know it to fraud or holes in policy or process that would allow for fraud. Moreover, the size of the company doesn’t matter - I have implemented SOX for Fortune 15 to pre-IPO size companies and they’ve all had their share of surprises. Ideally, if you have a good SOX person, when you are done with the implementation (year one) you will have a greater knowledge of your business processes and have some good desk manuals and a better functioning, more financially sound company.
    Best of luck.
    Teresa Bockwoldt
    Senior Manager - Frank, Rimerman Consulting
    tbockwoldt_at_frankrimerman.com
    707.477.0008



  • Hi and welcome to the forums … These are all actually good questions that Teresa answered well and I’ll add a few additional comments 🙂
    Who in the end says to a company, You are in Compliance?
    This is a tough question to answer if there are any differing opinions, which can occur due to interpretations.
    External auditors provide a service, an expert opinion, and checks-and-balances on the companies own interpretations related to SOX compliancy. External auditors essentially check and certify the work done by the SOX compliancy team.
    The senior executives must ensure SOX compliancy with their own signatures. They rely on the blessings of the External Audit certifications, Internal Audit’s checking for SOX compliancy, and the work of the core SOX compliancy team.
    Even the SEC itself could investigate or not approve filings. Achieving compliancy is indeed a joint effort. I still view some aspects of this as more of art than science, as judgement plus experience factors in.
    I guess any basic, beginner info is well appreciated.
    This post may help you get started … Good luck 🙂
    http://www.sarbanes-oxley-forum.com/modules.php?name=Forums-and-file=viewtopic-and-t=1706



  • Teresa , HArry to u I say many thanks… I spent most of the night reading and studying the ACT and documentation, and think I may have enough to add value to our meeting today. A million thanks again.
    😄



  • My pleasure. Feel free to give me a call or drop me a note if you have any further questions:
    Teresa Bockwoldt
    Senior Manager - Frank, Rimerman Consulting
    707.477.0008


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