The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, officially the U.S. Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, also referred to as SOA or SOX (we will use the term SOX), is having an impact on an organization’s IT especially security systems, practices and controls. SOX governs how public companies handle financial reporting. In the long term, SOX will affect virtually every aspect of information security. With deep experience and expertise in regulatory compliance, ecfirst.com can assist your organization manage SOX compliance initiatives and projects.
ecfirst.com understands that SOX requires important departments/groups to collaborate. Collaboration is required between audit, finance, legal and compliance professionals who are responsible for defining, planning, executing and testing for SOX compliance as well as with Security and IT architects with practical experience in the area of Identity and Access Management (IAM) processes and technologies.
Corporate Governance Legislation
Sarbanes-Oxley is one example of a legislation to improve corporate governance. Other initiatives that are taking place globally include:
Basel II initiative – This is due for implementation in 2006 and will impose a new operational risk management framework on G10 nation banks and financial service companies.
International Accounting Standards (IAS) – The IAS is also working on new and revised standards to ensure better financial reporting from an international perspective. |
The certification report demanded by Section 302 depends on the types of process controls and event monitoring that Sections 404 and 409 require compliance with. As organizations evaluate their capabilities to meet SOX compliance requirements they must ensure that the infrastructure supports secure identity management with controls implemented such as strong authentication and policy-based access controls.
ecfirst.com can help you with your SOX challenges and priorities. Call Lorna Waggoner and ask her for our white paper on Sarbanes-Oxley. She can be reached at 1.877.899.9974 x17. Talk to us to learn more about our SOX compliance solutions.
