BPM for Sarbanes-Oxley

The multi-billion-dollar scandals at companies such as Enron and Worldcom were catalysts for major change. While the accounting industry and many companies reviewed and tightened their own documenting and reporting processes in response, the U.S. Congress got serious about protecting shareholder interests, passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This legislation provides specific reporting requirements for public companies, and created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), a private-sector, non-profit corporation that oversees the auditors of public companies to help ensure the preparation of informative, fair, and independent audit reports.

The act radically changed corporate governance and reporting obligations for all publicly traded companies, and significantly increased personal accountability for the organisations officers, securities analysts, auditors and legal counsel. New compliance requirements mandate that CEOs and CFOs personally certify financial statements and affirm they are responsible for disclosure controls and procedures at all levels of their organisation. The act also requires an annual evaluation by the company's independent auditor of internal controls and procedures for financial reporting, to be published in the company's annual report.

BPM for Sarbanes-Oxley is a software platform that enables management to more easily meet requirements mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley Act. BPM very effectively addresses many of a public companys Sarbanes-Oxley needs, including managing controls and libraries of documentation, status, roll-up reporting and more.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires top executives to closely scrutinise and monitor the assembly of financial data across the enterprise. BPM for Sarbanes-Oxley enables executives to check and manage those processes and documents over the entire process lifecycle.

Process Automation and Workflow . Executives can dynamically add users and tasks to the workflow, define roles and manage system access accordingly, and electronically approve documents. The system prompts users for action with e-mail alerts.

Collaboration and Communication . Users get current information, and are alerted when documents have been changed. Executives can monitor document status, and audit data and processes, through controlled access.

Monitoring and Reporting . Executive dashboards display project status and enable executives to spot and correct process issues before they become real problems. The accelerator provides a printed summary, along with detailed reports, on compliance results and company readiness.

Corporate governance has changed as a result of Sarbanes-Oxley and similar regulations around the world. For a company to comply with a regulation, and to accurately attest that it has complied, it must know its actual condition. Companies need transparency. A company that is transparent can more readily comply with compliance requirements.

BPM for Sarbanes-Oxley provides a sustainable compliance tool one that provides powerful long-term value. The system was architected to evolve as regulatory and methodological requirements evolve and will continue to meet ongoing, changing needs. Compliance is an activity undertaken by a company, in concert with its advisors, and BPM for Sarbanes-Oxley simply automates the management of compliance rules and behaviors for the company.

Learn how you can obtain visibility and achieve real-time event monitoring by automating your business processes and optimise your business processes to achieve greater organisational agility and competitiveness.

For more about BPM for Sarbanes-Oxley, contact us or request our white paper