What is needed for Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Section 404 documentation compliance?
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has sent companies scrambling to standardize and update their procedures for SOX documentation compliance. Many companies are discovering that their procedures are incomplete, outdated, or inadequate. To make matters worse, most corporations lack the tools needed to track the effectiveness of procedures and internal controls.
To obtain SOX Section 404 documentation compliance, some key issues must be addressed:
- Policies and procedures must be documented. SOX requires that key financial and accounting processes must be clearly stated and presented. In addition, all financial software applications must be documented.
- Tools must be implemented to track the effectiveness and timeliness of the policies and procedures. This is best handled with content management software. Content management software allows companies to publish and distribute policies and procedures. It also automates the process of tracking employee compliance with the policies and procedures through the use of checklists.