Internal Controls

With the clock ticking on regulatory efforts to improve implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404, a high-profile committee has offered its two cents on how to make compliance with SOX 404 less burdensome. The recommendations come from a group of leaders in the investor, business, finance, law, accounting, and academic communities that is formally known as […]

As I have discussed in past columns, internal audit efforts must be risk-based and contribute to the long-term assurance needs of the organization and its board. A formal risk-assessment audit must be completed at least annually and the results of that assessment should direct audit priorities. Over the past five years, a focus on short-term […]

Speculation on how regulators may amend compliance rules for Sarbanes-Oxley has reached a fever pitch recently, as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board prepare to release critical guidance for 2007 within weeks. The new rules should focus on two distinct but related issues: guidance to help corporate executives understand […]

At the request of subscribers, Compliance Week offers a Remediation Center, in which readers can submit questions—anonymously—to securities and accounting experts. Compliance Week’s editors will review all questions and then submit them—confidentially, of course—to specialists who can address the issues. The questions and responses will then be reprinted in a future edition of Compliance Week. […]

While all companies will be subject to the audit of internal controls required under Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission says regulators will lighten the burden of the requirement on smaller companies, according to a published report. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Cox said regulators […]

While corporate-finance professionals might generally agree with the saying, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” many believe that Sarbanes-Oxley—and especially the subsequent Auditing Standard No. 2—have created measurement overkill. The tried-and-true method of management by measurement is by documentation: the theory that companies should document how things are supposed to be done, then lay […]

Internal auditing can provide managers and the board with valuable assistance by giving objective assurance about their organization’s governance, risk-management and control processes. Establishing a robust internal-audit function is a long-term and worthwhile investment for most organizations because an internal-audit department can act as an independent advisor for the board and senior management. Where an […]

At the request of subscribers, Compliance Week offers a Remediation Center, in which readers can submit questions—anonymously—to securities and accounting experts. Compliance Week’s editors will review all questions and then submit them—confidentially, of course—to specialists who can address the issues. The questions and responses will then be reprinted in a future edition of Compliance Week. […]

Auditing and securities regulators have decided to coordinate their schedules this fall, preparing a double feature of new guidance for corporations struggling to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and for auditors who have misunderstood Auditing Standard No. 2—all within the next two months. First up is the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which wants to reveal its […]