Managed IT Services & Small Business IT Support in St. Louis
SOX Compliance Consulting
Certified NETS offers specialized SOX compliance consulting services to help businesses in Greater St. Louis and surrounding areas meet the rigorous requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). Our expert team works closely with your organization to ensure that your financial reporting processes and IT systems are fully compliant with SOX regulations, which are designed to enhance corporate accountability and protect against financial fraud. By leveraging our deep knowledge of SOX requirements, we assist you in implementing effective internal controls, safeguarding financial data, and preparing for audits, so you can focus on your core business activities with confidence.
Sarbanes – Oxley “SOX” Compliance
U.S. Public Company Accounting Reform & Investor Protection Act of 2002
Key Provisions Affecting CIO’s
Section 302: Certification of Financial Reports*
Certified NETS' Certified Care services are tailored to meet the stringent requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) compliance. SOX mandates that public companies maintain robust internal controls over financial reporting to protect against fraud and ensure the accuracy of financial data. Our Certified Care solutions ensure your business adheres to these standards by implementing comprehensive controls, safeguarding financial information, and providing the necessary support for ongoing compliance in the following ways:
SOX Requirement:
Certified CARE Delivers:
CEO, CFO and an attesting public accounting firm must certify the accuracy of financial statements and disclosures in the periodic report.
Because IT systems generate periodic reports and control email, the primary tool for communicating information internally, CIO’s must ensure host systems are secure and reliable
CEO, CFO and an attesting public accounting firm must certify that the statements fairly present in all material aspects the operation and financial condition of the issuer.
Certified CARE assists with the following:
Reliability:
System availability reports
System OS reports
Network Utilization (NIC card)
Overall alerts/notification system
Exchange, Notes, Email application monitoring
Security:
Vulnerability assessments
Firewall monitoring
Patch assessment
Material information used to generate periodic reports must be retained and made available to the public
Automatic archival of all reports for up to one year
*Prescribes criminal penalties
Section 404: Certification of Internal Controls*
SOX Requirement:
Certified CARE Delivers:
Requires a statement of management’s responsibility for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the company, attested to by the company’s auditor.
Includes an assessment of the controls and identification of the framework used for the assessment.
Critical systems may include but are not limited to:
Documentation/records management tool
Asset inventory
Layered security mechanisms to protect integrity of data
Reporting of material process changes** every quarter
Process changes to meet compliance must be documented and implemented by the IS organization.
Because the processes and internal controls are implemented principally in IT systems, section 404 audits involve a detailed assessment of those systems.
Process used to generate statements must be accurate and meet the committee of sponsoring organizations of the Treadway Commission Standard
Enterprises must pass Section 302 & 404 audits before filing
Certified CARE helps CIO’s address the assessment, identification and documentation of internal controls:
Use Certified CARE to take a quick “snapshot” and baseline network activity to establish what constitutes “normal” activity for comparison purposes
Asset report automatically discovers and documents resources across the IT infrastructure
Asset reports automatically identify all moves, adds, and changes
Notify on changes in access policies, changes in firewall configurations, router configurations, disk drive removals, and environmentals
Documentation of security controls:
firewall logs
intrusion monitoring
vulnerability assessment
patch assessment
assurance that virus updates are current
Better differentiate between Denial of Service attacks and legitimate increases or spikes in network traffic
Aggregated firewall reports ensure firewall is in compliance with organization security policy
Archive up to one year’s worth of history
*Required by June 15, 2004 for large companies and April 15, 2005 for other filers
**Sarbanes-Oxley limits the services that an attesting audit firm can offer to assure there is no conflict of interest. Thus, the auditor that signs an organization’s financial statement can’t implement
Section 409: Material Event Reporting*
SOX Requirement:
Certified CARE Delivers:
Public companies must disclose information on material changes in their financial condition or operations on a rapid and current basis.
IT systems as they support business operations and financial management, play a significant role in the detection and management of material events
Proactive use of IT solutions such as Certified CARE enable earlier detection and mitigation of material events with some of the following capabilities:
Overall monitoring, alerting and notification system on network, system, application and security issues
Use of thresholds, severity and time-based alerts and escalations
Ensure Your Compliance Today: Get Started with Certified Care
Not only do we believe in Certified CARE, but we will offer you a free trail of Certified CARE to show that it provides a good investment in your environment. Get the process started today, call Certified NETS at (314) 292-6260.
