Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Compliance
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Compliance
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Dallas IIA Super Conference
We help clients streamline their approach to SOX compliance, strengthen their internal controls framework and lower long-term compliance costs in the context of their business.
Now, for tomorrow
With the rapidly changing world and the continuous evolving strategic, compliance, financial and operational risk landscape, it is imperative to have the right talent supporting your SOX compliance program.
Baker Tilly recognizes the need for a flexible approach. Key components to successful SOX compliance programs include collaboration with external audit and management, and a forward-thinking approach utilizing digital capabilities.
Technology is advancing and so should your SOX program approach. Utilizing digital capabilities to deploy an effective SOX compliance program can help reduce time and impacts to your company while providing a quality compliance program.
Flexible approach
The needs of your company are evolving and perhaps your needs for supplemental resources to assist with SOX compliance may vary at times. We commonly see organizations need these types of assistance with SOX:
- IPO readiness: Preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) requires many decisions, including decisions about your internal control structure and framework. We take into consideration where you are in the process of going public and your plans for the future of the business. We assist with the evaluation of your existing internal controls framework, including opportunities to leverage automated controls and support your environment by integrating enterprise resource planning (ERP) workflow.
- Program optimization: A review of your internal control framework to identify opportunities to further optimize and enhance your internal controls.
- Co-sourcing: We work closely alongside internal resources as an extension of your team. This may include additional assistance or expertise needed for identifying and documenting controls, your SOX compliance testing, or remediation of control weaknesses. We work collaboratively with internal audit departments to assist with the completion of internal control testing to support your SOX compliance program.
- Out-sourcing: We can seamlessly be deployed as your internal audit function to help achieve your SOX compliance needs, working closely with and in alignment with management and external audit to help ensure compliance.
Collaboration with external audit
When working with clients, we often find the most successful compliance programs have collaborative relationships with management and external audit. Developing a collaborative relationship creates efficiencies for control owners and eliminates duplication of efforts. We work with external audit to support a reliance approach for the testing performed by internal audit.
Digital SOX compliance optimization
Embracing technology and automation in your SOX Compliance program can yield significant time savings. The use of intelligent automation and automated controls through ERP workflows can create significant efficiencies.
- Intelligent automation: In our testing approaches, we utilize robotic process automation (RPA) and scripts to automate manual tasks. This creates efficiencies for our team and minimizes manual tasks performed.
- Automated controls: We work with our clients to utilize the ERP system and workflows to develop automated controls.
- Data Analytics: We utilize data analytics to help guide our audit activities and better identify risks within our review.
SOX insights
SOX readiness: preparing for an IPO
Initial public offerings (IPOs) will require compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). Learn more in this infographic.
Don’t lose control during COVID-19
COVID-19 presents immediate risks that may impact an organization’s control environment and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX). Review these practical next steps to help mitigate those risks.
Reduce fraud and other enterprise risks with internal audit procedures
What can you do to further protect your firm from fraud? Learn more about a recommended risk management framework model to evaluate fraud and other enterprise risks, as well valuable methods that can be employed to mitigate risk.
SEC ruling: summary of amendments to filer definitions and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) impacts
The final amendments become effective April 27, 2020, and will apply to annual report filings due on or after the effective date.
Why all organizations should embrace certain SOX principles
In the past, headaches were the norm for public companies implementing Sarbanes-Oxley. Now they’re glad they did.
They work collaboratively with us to identify opportunities to streamline our process and reduce our overall SOX compliance efforts on a continuous basis.Chief Financial Officer of a major public corporation
Our strategic alliance
Baker Tilly and Workiva create value-driven offerings to transform and optimize an organization’s GRC functions and support their ESG journeys with enhanced reporting insights. Through our alliance, Baker Tilly and Workiva can help organizations streamline risk management processes and compliance reporting within a cloud-based platform.
Since we’ve transitioned to Baker Tilly, the team has helped us rationalize our control environment, update process documentation, and test the necessary controls. They also work collaboratively with us to identify opportunities to streamline.Chief Financial Officer of a public company