Sarbanes-Oxley

The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) has published an excellent draft paper for public comment to the US SEC on Concept Release Concerning Management’s Reports on Internal Control over Financial Reporting (ICOFR)
The paper’s foundation is based on several principles which ASQ quality managers would be comfortable with:

• management focus
• risk-based approach
• quality management approaches
• control assessment frameworks
• enterprise risk and operational risk management

ASQ has been asked to provide inputs and comments.  Your careful and insightful observations would be welcomed by the IMA and this blog.

Posted by John Walz at 07:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Charles Niemeier, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board member, presentation to NY Society of CPAs makes the case for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) by looking at the history of the automotive seat belt, as reported by Alicia Korney, Editor, WebCPA, in her article If SOX Were a Tree...

1930s	Doctors were suggesting that seatbelts might be a good idea in cars
1950s	Manufacturers actually rolled out the devices in just two car models
1960s	Federal requirements made it mandatory for belts to be installed in all vehicles
1980s	Enforcement was introduced on a state level and tickets began being written, resulting in widespread adoption of seat belt usage

Niemeier said "There's nothing new in Sarbanes-Oxley, all that's in there has been in securities law before. What's changed is that now there's a policeman.
You can't regulate honesty, but that doesn't mean you should ignore safety belts."

So while many companies are complaining about their costs in implementing SOX, a long-term perspective is useful on making a final judgment.

Posted by John Walz at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)