In the movie “City Slickers,” three depressed friends leave their troubled urban lives behind to spend two weeks moving a herd of cattle across the plains, and perhaps, in the process, rediscovering what can give their lives more meaning. The trail boss, Curly (Jack Palance), tells mid-life crisis plagued Mitch (Billy Crystal), that the secret […]
Internal Controls
Posted inInternal Controls
Case Study: A Risk-Based Audit At Chevron
This “case study” is the latest in a series of articles aimed at helping public companies understand how other organizations are using technology to comply with new regulations and standards. These are not advertisements or marketing vehicles for the companies mentioned; Compliance Week’s editorial staff speaks with the public company that has deployed the technology, […]
Posted inInternal Controls
SEC Guidance On 404; Nasdaq Rules; XBRL
The Securities and Exchange Commission expects to solicit views “in the next few weeks” for its guidance on how management should assess the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting, Commissioner Paul Atkins said last week—indicating that the much-anticipated guidance might arrive later rather than sooner. Atkins Atkins made his remarks in a June […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Getting Things Right On Section 404
As we hear or read about what’s good and bad with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404, there seem to be almost as many viewpoints as observers. Virtually everyone believes he or she has the right “fix” for what’s wrong with the well-intentioned law, and its requirements that management assess and report on the company’s internal control system, […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
More Hints Emerge On AS2 Changes
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board shared more thoughts last week on how it might amend Auditing Standard No. 2 at a much-touted meeting of its advisory board—where, not surprisingly, opinions differed on the wisdom of revisiting the much-maligned standard. The PCAOB revealed seven possible steps it is considering, mostly to clarify questions such as […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
PCAOB To Audit Firms: Lighten Up
While audit regulators churn away on promised revisions to Auditing Standard No. 2, their chief auditor is imploring those in the field to heed earlier guidance, use more judgment, and lighten up on excessive testing and audit procedures. In a speech to the 25th annual SEC and Financial Reporting Institute Conference in Pasadena, Calif., last […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Spreadsheet Controls, Without Going Crazy
Companies trying to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are finding that one of the toughest—and yet most essential—areas for establishing controls over internal processes and procedures isn’t even required under the law: spreadsheets. BNSF Railway recently went through the process. The company, a subsidiary of the $13 billion Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Beyond Delete: Intelligent Email Policies
Corporate email retention policies continue to be driven by fears of litigation, leading many companies to adhere to strict “save it until you can delete it” procedures. But more nuanced alternatives exist for companies that want their email policies to be motivated more by business needs than legal risks. Kennedy “Some companies just don’t get […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Internal Control Report Scorecard
The latest downloadable spreadsheet tracking auditor “pass/fail” grades for companies’ internal control over financial reporting.
Posted inInternal Controls
Few Companies Monitor Internal Audit Function
Less than 25 percent of corporations are giving their internal audit functions the rigorous external reviews recommended by the Institute for Internal Auditors as a standard of strong corporate governance in the post-Sarbanes-Oxley world, according to a new study. Conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the survey, titled “2005 State of the Internal Audit Profession,” found that only […]
