Sarbanes-Oxley Ongoing Compliance Guide: Key Processes and Summary Checklists Book

The Path to Ongoing Compliance     1
The Origins of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act     1
Generating Value from Compliance     2
Finance Checklist: Compliance Activities That Deliver Value     3
Moving Beyond Initial Compliance     5
Reevaluating the Compliance Program     7
Ongoing Compliance Considerations     8
Ongoing Compliance Strategy Checklist     8
Remediation Prioritization     10
Checklist: Control improvements     11
Checklist: Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and financial reporting improvements     11
Checklist: Productivity improvements     11
Process Improvement     12
Operational Structure and Efficiency     12
Benefits of Centralization/Standardization     13
Benefits of Decentralization/Customization     14
Optimizing Compliance Efforts     17
Current Compliance Challenges     17
Future State Opportunity: Compliance Optimization     18
Governance     19
Enterprise Risk Management     19
Compliance     19
Issues to Consider When Optimizing Compliance     20
Checklist: Issues to Consider when Developing Monitoring/Maintenance Plan     20
Checklist: Steps to Address On-going Compliance Planning     23
Ongoing Compliance Plan     24
Ongoing Reporting     25
Customize Your Compliance Plan     26
Checklist: Factors that Influence a Compliance Strategy/Plan     26
Right-Sizing Best Practices     27
Outsourcing     28
Control Testing     28
Control Automation     29
Accelerate the Close Process     30
Integrated ERM and BPM Solution     30
The Role of Internal Audit: Balancing the Compliance and Audit Functions     31
Checklist: Internal Audit     32
The Evolving Role of the Audit Committee     34
Checklist: Audit Committee Best Practices     35
Checklist: Five Critical Questions Audit Committees Should Ask     36
The Time Has Come for ERM     39
The Benefits of ERM: Value Preservation and Creation     42
Implementing ERM     43
Checklist: Goals of fhe Risk Management Framework     43
Enterprise Risk Management Cycle     46
Risk Identification     46
Checklist: Risk Identification Questions to Consider     46
Checklist: Risks to Identify     47
Risk Analysis/Quantification     48
Checklist: Risk Analysis Questions to Consider     48
Checklist: Key Actions     48
Organizational Assessment     48
Checklist: Quantification of Risk Exposure     49
Reporting and Monitoring     49
Communicate Results     49
Monitor     49
Checklist: Ongoing Risk Monitoring Process     49
Risk Management Requires a Well-Informed Audit Committee     50
Maximize Future Performance through BPM and ERM Integration     53
Nine Steps to Effectively Integrate BPM and ERM     53
Integration Captures Past, Present, and Future Performance     54
The Benefits of a Joint Approach     55
Addressing Compliance Challenges through Automation     57
Software Can Add Value Beyond Compliance     59
Monitoring Software     60
Utilization of Continuous Monitoring: Control Testing and Control Automation     62
Benefits of Continuous Monitoring     63
Continuous Monitoring Tool Considerations     64
Functions to Consider When Evaluating Continuous Monitoring Tools     64
The Continuous Monitoring Process     65
Data Acquisition     65
Data Warehousing      65
Data Analysis     65
Exception Remediation     66
Risk Management Software     67
Unifying Financial Statements, Close Tasks, and SOX Controls     68
Determining the Right Solution     69
Define Business Requirements     70
Checklist: Tasks to Define Business Requirements     70
Identify Vendor Candidates     71
Select Tool and Plan Implementation     71
Ongoing Compliance Checklist     73
Plan, Design, and Build     73
Implement     74