Sarbanes-Oxley
Compliance
[
Compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is the goal.
The first challenge in meeting that goal is determining where to start.
Review Current Manual Processes
Assemble Compliance Task Force
Select Technology Platform
Collect Financial Data
Do Risk Assessment
Develop and Validate Automated Process
Internal Legal Review of Act
Develop Common Repository For Relevant Content
Feith Systems provides an integrated software platform that facilitates the corporation's efforts in complying
with various Sections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Dissected into its main elements, the various Sections of the
Act incorporate three key controls related to financial disclosure: time, process and information. There are no
specific guidelines for achieving compliance, only that policies and procedures must be implemented to ensure
that the financial accounting of the corporation is timely and can be validated as accurate and auditable.
Complying with the Act demands that the organization develop well-defined, time-based processes for financial
reporting, while maintaining the supporting information in a readily accessible, lifecycle managed environment.
Feith Document Database (FDD) provides your organization the software infrastructure to:
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Design, manage and validate policies and procedures (Sections: 302, 404)
Create auditable workflow processes (Sections: 302, 404)
Set time-based parameters and notifications (Section: 404)
Facilitate internal and external audits through controlled access (Section: 404)
Manage reporting activities with Collaborative Folders (Section: 404)
Institute forms based “material change” reporting for real-time disclosure (Sections: 302, 409)
Automatically create and workflow “smart case” files based on financial alerts (Sections: 302, 409)
Generate summary pages of relevant reports and document ”hot-links” (Sections: 302, 404, 409)
Assemble support documentation quickly for investigative and legal activity (Sections: 404, 409)
425 Maryland Drive, Fort Washington, PA 19034
(215) 646-8000 ■ Fax: (215) 540-5495 ■ E-mail: fdd-info@feith.com
www.feith.com
Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
One of the difficulties in managing financial reporting activity is the handling of “live data.” Typically,
spreadsheets are used to consolidate financial information from accounting software and ERP packages. Both
the spreadsheets and data in the accounting system are “live” and can be changed. Auditing changes in these
two working environments is very difficult. Record lifecycle management, using report versioning and checkin/check-out controls, is imperative for accurately auditing change activity. Additionally, managing related
information, in various electronic and paper based formats, is instrumental in substantiating the financial
reports. This information must also be unalterable with a complete audit history from its creation to archiving to
eventual disposition. By providing a certified Department of Defense 5015.2 based solution, objects stored in
FDD are maintained using the strictest records management guidelines.
Feith Document Database (FDD) enables your organization to:
■
■
■
■
■
■
■
Manage electronic financial reports as unalterable “snap-shots” (Sections: 302, 404)
Store and control access to active spreadsheets and other “live data” reports (Sections: 302, 404)
Capture and manage the final financial documents and auditor reports (Sections: 302, 404)
Electronically capture and store paper based information and faxes (Sections: 302, 404)
Automatically capture and index e-mails and instant messages (Section: 404)
Create a common repository for all non-traditional data formats (Section: 404)
Develop a standard interface for information access using the corporate portal (Section: 404)
Quarterly Financial Report Workflow
2
3
Legal
Financials
Accounting Staff
1
Head Accountant
2
2
3
Financial
Committee
CEO
2
Rendezvous
The initial goal of the corporation
in achieving compliance is to
demonstrate that it has a defined and
validated process for the creation and
the release of financial reports and
other business related information.
For example, an audited process of
releasing the quarterly report may
look like this:
3
Reconciliation
Suspect
Report
Review
COO
1
CFO_Final_Review
CEO_Signoff
Corporate
Communications
Report
Archive
Another example of how the organization can take
advantage of FDD is to develop a Web-based form for
reporting and investigating a material change. Once a
material change is discovered, a form is completed as to
the nature of the change. Additionally, supporting files are
attached to the form and a workflow is initiated. A workflow for reporting material changes now controls the
activity in an approved and time-based process.
SYSTEMS AND
SOFTWARE, INC.
www.feith.com