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by Alan Alper, MA Editorial Staff Posted on Sunday, February 20, 2005 11:25:00 AM   | Abstract: | With initial projects already completed at many manufacturing companies, or reaching a crescendo at others, here's some useful advice from consultants and corporate managers who have been through the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance wars. |
As of November 15, 2004, publicly-held companies with revenues in excess of $75 million are required by the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act to issue an annual report (signed by management and certified by external auditors) detailing the effectiveness of internal control structures and specifying the responsibility of management for monitoring and maintaining adequate financial management policies. Smaller companies have until July 15 of this year to comply with this portion of the act, known as Section 404. Under Section 409 of the act, all publicly-held companies must also have a plan to accurately and immediately disclose the material impact certain events have on the business. With initial projects already completed at many manufacturing companies, or reaching a crescendo at others, we thought it an opportune time to provide SOX-compliance advice from leading consultants and corporate managers. (Click here to see a list of SOX-related resources.) 1) SOX is more than financial disclosure. To fully comply, companies must audit all relevant process from the plant floor through the back office. "If there's a significant event at an operation -- some kind of disaster that's going to have a prolonged, significant impact on the company -- it's something that the company needs to be able to show it can monitor and control under Sarbanes-Oxley," says Jorge Milo, industrial manufacturing leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers told Managing Automation last year. [Click to continue] |