Case Studies In Compliance

On occasion, Compliance Week conducts editorial case studies, which are aimed at helping executives understand how other public companies are using technology to comply with various regulations and standards. Please note these are not advertisements or marketing vehicles for the vendors mentioned; Compliance Week's editorial staff speaks with the public company that has deployed the technology, and the article is written without any input from the vendor.

Case Study: Abiomed Conquers Segregation of Duties

Like most small public companies, Abiomed Corp., a $73 million medical device maker, must meet all the same Sarbanes-Oxley internal control compliance requirements as most large public companies—but with quite fewer resources.

From Risk Assessment to Risk Scenario Analysis

Today’s volatile markets and sluggish economy have strained companies’ traditional risk-forecasting techniques to the breaking point—and many have just outright broken down, according to a recent Webcast hosted by Deloitte.

Case Study: ACS Conquers Identity Management

For Affiliated Computer Services, a Dallas-based IT and business-process outsourcing firm that does business in 100 countries, identity management had become not only a compliance concern by 2008—it was a business risk and productivity drain as well.

Case Study: Managing Post-Trade Compliance

Principal Funds, a group of 112 mutual funds with $280 billion in assets, had a problem with post-trade compliance: It wanted some way to confirm that all its transactions stayed within investment trading rules, and to confirm that every day.

Case Study: Small Alaska Utility Gets SOX Compliant

Doing business as an electric utility in Alaska has its special challenges, such as bad weather and sometimes-uncertain fuel supplies. But as the leaders of Chugach Electric Association, Alaska’s largest electric utility, will tell you, regulatory compliance is much the same there as in the Lower 48.

Case Study: DIRECTV and Dish Network Reseller Bulk TV and Internet Improves Financial Operations with Intacct

Bulk TV and Internet specializes in offering DIRECTV and Dish Network packages for commercial properties such as hotels and apartment buildings. With a staff of only 20 employees covering the entire United States, efficiency and productivity — as well as collaboration across departments — are critical to the company’s success.

Case Study: nGenera Graduates from QuickBooks to Intacct Plus to Manage Growing International Operations

nGenera was founded in late 2006, in Austin, Texas, to help its customers leverage collaboration capabilities, Web 2.0 technologies and on-demand software to improve their business. With immediate success and heavy demand for its products and services, the company grew quickly, both organically and through acquisitions.

Case Study: VOZ Sports Improves Financial Controls and Inventory Management with Intacct

VOZ Sports was founded in 2006 to develop and manufacture the latest in sports technology. The company’s innovative head protection systems and athletic accessories are sold directly in the United States, and through distributors in South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Case Study: PHM Services Improves Financial Processes, Consolidation and Reporting with Intacct

PHM Services is a hospitality management company that provides operations, sales and marketing, financial services, development and construction, and human resources support for Marriott and Sheraton Hotels.

Case Study: GeoEye’s Process Improvement

The Challenge: GeoEye needed an enterprise modeling system to facilitate and automate the documentation, tracking, and update of their business processes. Sarbanes-Oxley compliance triggered the initial need; a subsequent acquisition and ISO 9001 certification efforts underscored the value of using an enterprise architecture design tool.

Case Study: How To Adopt XBRL Filings

When the executives at Old Mutual Capital, a mutual fund based in Denver, decided to test the interactive-data waters this year, they didn’t know what to expect.

Case Study: A Risk-Based Audit At Chevron

With $184 billion in revenue and 59,000 employees in 180 countries, energy giant Chevron Corp. is no stranger to the need for risk management. So when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act came along with its calls for a risk-based approach to assessing internal control over financial reporting, Chevron executives knew just what to do—because they had instituted just such a risk-based system years ago.

Case Study: Documenting Controls At Congoleum Corp.

Congoleum Corp., a maker of flooring for homes and other buildings, had only rudimentary governance policies for its financial reporting when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed. The company had to find means to craft such policies, and use them as a blueprint to install appropriate financial controls to be compliant with the law.

Case Study: $7.8b SunTrust Implements SOX Software

SunTrust Banks, with branches from Maryland to Florida and nearly $170 billion in assets, needed a swift, effective way to automate the documentation, testing and certification of its financial controls to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Case Study: Entity, Document Management At Valeant

Few compliance obligations today intimidate a corporation more than the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The tax code, however, is one of them—and by the fall of 2003, Valeant Pharmaceuticals had fallen woefully behind in efforts to obey tax codes both at home and abroad.