SOX READINESS, COMPLIANCE, & REMEDIATION

Public companies are required by law to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002, a regulatory requirement that creates additional responsibility for public company management, external auditors and boards of directors. Sarbanes-Oxley provides specific guidance on the creation and maintenance of internal controls over financial reporting.

Establishing a SOX compliance program requires planning and scoping. If your company is planning an IPO or has recently gone public, our experts will create and guide you through a risk-based approach, laying the foundation for successful and sustainable SOX compliance. Areas of expert assistance include:

• Planning and scoping
  • Draft SOX charter, governance structure, and reporting timeline
  • Perform and document risk assessment and scoping
  • Conduct resource planning
  • Coordinate all SOX program activities including alignment with external auditors
  • Prepare executive and program status reporting
• Business process documentation & internal control gap assessment
  • Facilitate meetings with key owners to understand current processes and internal controls
  • When possible, leverage existing process and internal controls documentation
  • Gather example control documentation to support key controls identified
  • Remediate control gaps
• Operating effectiveness testing
  • Develop test plans for all key controls
  • Facilitate requests for population and selection of samples for testing
  • Preform testing for operating effectiveness of key controls
  • Identify control operating effectiveness gaps and provide remediation recommendations
• Management reporting
  • Conduct quality review of SOX testing working papers
  • Facilitate management’s evaluation and assessment of un-remediated control deficiencies at year-end on the financial statements (individual and in the aggregate)
  • Prepare SOX compliance conclusion memo including mitigating controls and explanations as to severity
• Remediation
  • Develop a detailed, prioritized remediation plan for each control and system and confirm remediation plan with control owners
  • Assist management to enhance or implement controls to remediate deficiencies identified in the gap assessment report