SOX for Coal 1613



  • Hello everyone. I’m new to the forums so you might see me posting quite a few times with many questions. I’m trying to do research on SOX for a coal company and my first question is an opinionated question: What is the most important aspect of SOX as applied to a coal company?



  • Nothing.
    The provisions of SOX apply quite equally to all companies affected. The Act is quite generic and there are not real industry specific considerations.



  • I also agree that SOX does not distinguish the significance of internal controls by industry. However, my interpretation of the question posed is that the individual would like to know that, for a coal company, is there an aspect of SOX that should be emphasized due to the unique characteristics of a coal mining concern?
    If that is an accurate interpretation of the question:
    The mining industry is unique in a number of ways. As related to SOX and internal controls over financial reporting (ICFR), certain financial statement assertions are more heavily emphasized, particularly those over valuation since the ‘inventory’ is not clearly identifiable until extraction. Thus, the reserves valuations seem to have a significant impact on the balances and other information presented in the financial reports.
    Another individual had previously asked about audit programs in the mining industry and a risk and control matrix. A search on this Forum might be helpful and you can find the question and related posts by searching on the term ‘mining’.
    Hope this further helps,
    Milan



  • Hi and welcome 🙂 Below is a thread that outlines in very general terms what most corporations need to do in order to meet SOX compliancy:
    http://www.sarbanes-oxley-forum.com/modules.php?name=Forums-and-file=viewtopic-and-p=5351#5351
    Looking at the big picture, the overall theme is to ensure financial processes and IT based systems are controlled, so that no one can ‘cook the books’ (e.g., Enron scandal)



  • Hi,
    The link below is for a discussion of internal controls specific to the mining industry.
    http://www.sarbanes-oxley-forum.com/modules.php?name=Forums-and-file=viewtopic-and-t=1270-and-highlight=coal mining
    Milan



  • Thanks everyone. This is interesting…


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