The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a rule yesterday that would enable public companies to voluntarily file “tagged” financial statements using XBRL for the 2004 year-end reporting season. According to the SEC, the rule was proposed to examine the benefits of tagged data and its potential for improving the timeliness, accuracy and analysis of financial […]
Technology
Posted inTechnology
SOX 404 Forcing Bonds Between Financial, IT Departments
When the full scope of the infamous Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act became clear to Kevin Rhodes, he thought it might be a blessing in disguise. Sure, implementing Section 404 would require a formidable investment of time and money for Edgewater Technology, Inc., a $25 million software company in a suburb north of Boston. […]
Posted inTechnology
Digital Archiving Company Acquires eDiscovery Firm
Consolidating its lead in the digital archiving and electronic discovery space, Zantaz recently acquired Steelpoint Technologies, a Boston-based provider of high-end electronic discovery and litigation support solutions. The acquisition brings Zantaz over 100 customers, including several large law firms that use Steelpoint’s litigation support services. The move is also the second acquisition for Zantaz this […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Tagged Data May Help SEC, But Will It Help You?
An SEC announcement in late July, innocuously titled “SEC Announces Initiative to Assess Benefits of Tagged Data in Commission Filings,” eventually could impact financial and legal executives of publicly held companies more than many realize. The term “tagged data” refers to a financial reporting methodology in which individual figures are marked with standard accounting-industry identifiers. […]
Posted inTechnology
META Survey Raises Eyebrows; Questions Over Results
The results of new study by META Group run contrary to other surveys on the topic of compliance budgeting. According to the study, 64 percent of companies have budgets dedicated to financial regulatory compliance, with the average budget projected to be $7.2 million in 2005. However, that information runs counter to two recent and separate […]
Posted inTechnology
Q&A With Ventana Research VP Robert Kugel
In a story on internal control remediation efforts in the July 20 edition of Compliance Week, PricewaterhouseCoopers noted that companies were making the greatest number of improvements in areas related to financial processes. However, Belmont, Calif.-based Ventana Research recently noted that companies did not seem to be heavily investing in SOX 404 technologies. We turned […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Q&A With Chief Accounting Officer At Iron Mountain
This profile is the latest in a series of weekly conversations with executives at U.S. public companies who are currently involved in establishing and developing compliance programs. An index of previous conversations is available here. We usually talk to chief compliance officers or governance officers. What can you tell us about your ‘chief accounting officer’ […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Boards Should Not Neglect Open Source Software Compliance
As directors and executives at U.S. public companies, we’ve all got plenty of items to worry about—risk assessment, internal controls, stock option expensing, and the litany of other governance and compliance issues. Unfortunately, I’ve just discovered another. Fortune Magazine recently ran a cover story that discussed SCO Group’s lawsuit against IBM, claiming ownership of portions […]
Posted inTechnology
Software, Services Firms Launch Compliance Consortium
A group of software, content and services firms announced yesterday the launch of the Compliance Consortium, which will promote efficient enterprise governance, risk and compliance management. The consortium, spearheaded by enterprise compliance solution provider Axentis, includes a variety of other companies like risk consulting and internal audit firm Jefferson Wells, whistleblower reporting service The Network, […]
Posted inInternal Controls
Protiviti, Stellent To Collaborate On Compliance Platform
Stellent, a $78.5 million content management company that addresses SOX 404 through a “Sarbanes-Oxley Solution,” will announce this week that it plans to collaborate on a compliance platform with internal audit and risk consulting firm Protiviti. The co-marketed solution will combine Protiviti’s industry expertise with Stellent’s content management framework. In a recent conversation with Compliance […]