Earlier this month, the SEC extended the compliance date for the internal control provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley. Accelerated filers will now need to comply for their first fiscal year ending on or after Nov. 15, 2004. The original compliance date was June 15. This week, we talk to Jefferson Wells CEO Owen Sullivan — whose firm […]
Internal Controls
Posted inInternal Controls
18 Internal Control Disclosures In February
According to a review of regulatory filings during the month of February, 18 companies disclosed material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal controls, or provided updates on the status of their control-improvement processes. In January, 23 companies made similar disclosures. (See box at right for previous months’ data). Types Of Weaknesses Over one-third of the […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Q&A With PwC’s Global Systems, Process Assurance Leader
Last week, the SEC extended the compliance date for the internal control provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley. Accelerated filers will now need to comply for their first fiscal year ending on or after Nov. 15, 2004. The original compliance date was June 15. (Click here for details). This week, we talked with Lynn Edelson, the Global Leader […]
Posted inInternal Controls
With PwC’s Global Systems, Process Assurance Leader
Last week, the SEC extended the compliance date for the internal control provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley. Accelerated filers will now need to comply for their first fiscal year ending on or after Nov. 15, 2004. The original compliance date was June 15. (Click here for details). This week, we talked with Lynn Edelson, the Global Leader […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Certifying Internal Controls — A Trap for the Unwary?
A great deal of frenzy currently surrounds the Sarbanes-Oxley requirement that public companies assess, and their outside auditors attest to, the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls. To paraphrase Epicetus, “[w]hat concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.” Most companies seem to be adopting one of […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Internal Controls: A New Enforcement Frontier?
When crises of corporate conduct reveal widespread shortcomings in public company disclosure, lawmakers and regulators turn to questions of internal controls. Dissatisfied with the output of corporate reporting, they tinker with its inputs and the processes that connect the one to the other. With the new certification and attestation requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, this […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Common SOX 302/404 Mistake: Not Assessing Controls Over Notes And Supplemental Disclosures
One of the most common mistakes we still see in practice is too narrow an interpretation of what is covered by Section 302 and 404 control effectiveness representations. Many companies appear to be under the mistaken impression that these representations relate only to the accounting processes that feed disclosures in balance sheets and income statements. […]
Posted inInternal Controls
SOX 404 Survey Confirms “Million Per Billion” Theory
As reported in Compliance Week over the past year, most estimates of costs associated with the internal control provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley have hovered around 0.001 percent of revenue, or “one million in expenses per billion of revenue.” A recent survey by Financial Executives International has confirmed that estimate, keeping the number in the general ballpark […]
Posted inInternal Controls
AMR Q&A On The Market For Internal Control Software
Last week, we reported that $25.1 billion PepsiCo had purchased internal control and assurance software from Nth Orbit. That news was followed by an announcement a few days ago that $24.6 billion Viacom will use OpenPages’ SOX Express for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Amidst these and other internal control software announcements, we decided to ask industry expert […]
Posted inInternal Controls
23 Internal Control Disclosures In January
According to a review of regulatory filings during the first month of 2004, 23 companies disclosed material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal controls. That number is nearly double the 14 similar disclosures made during the prior month of December 2003. Eleven companies made such disclosures in November 2003. (See box at right for prior […]