Sarbanes-Oxley: A Road Map to Compliance

Complete Seminar Details

Meeting the Act's Requirements

Seminar Focus and Features

This two-day seminar has been developed to arm you with specific tools and techniques you can use to help your organization comply with the full intent of Sarbanes-Oxley...and position IA to take advantage of the opportunities the Act presents. You will cover the letter and the spirit of the law, focus on the critical nature of the risks it addresses, and learn the controls that must be in place to assure compliance. You will drill down to the essential requirements of the Act and learn practical methodologies for ensuring that your organization is meeting the requirements of §302 and §404. In addition, you will learn how to use the IT-focused system-centric tools and techniques that are critical to complying with §409. You will leave this timely seminar with a practical framework for ensuring that your organization is in compliance with the components of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Prerequisite: Fundamentals of Internal Auditing or equivalent experience

Learning Level: Intermediate

Who Should Attend

What You Will Learn

• - the primary requirements of the major sections of the Act
• - deadlines for compliance
• - sufficient evidence, significant deficiency, and material weakness: what they are and what they mean to you
• - the roles and responsibilities of the key players
• -- senior and operating management
• -- audit committee
• -- board of directors
• -- internal auditors
• -- external auditors

2. Building a Sarbanes-Oxley Infrastructure

• - who should be on the team
• - developing an action plan and a timeline
• - establishing appropriate processes
• - new opportunities for IA

3. Section 302: Corporate Responsibility for Financial Reports

• - interpreting the spirit and the intent of §302
• - specific assurances that senior management must provide
• - what constitutes a violation in this section
• - best-practice case studies: alternative strategies and methodologies for accomplishing compliance

4. Section 404: Management Assessment of Internal Controls

• - interpreting the intent and spirit §404
• - COSO framework as a baseline approach to compliance
• - management’s responsibilities as they pertain to the internal control report
• - what constitutes a year-end assessment of controls
• - the requirements of internal and external auditors and the conditions of their obligations
• - defining a code of ethics and what should be included
• - best-practice case studies: alternative strategies and methodologies to accomplish compliance

5. Section 409: Real-Time Disclosure

• - what §409 really means
• - analyzing compliance requirements
• - determining your capabilities to fulfill §409 requirements in light of current IT capabilities

6. The Financial and Operational Implications of Sarbanes-Oxley

• - understanding the relationship: operational effectiveness = financial results
• - the logical loop of failure: the causal factors
• - clarifying the requirements: what makes Sarbanes-Oxley really work
• - targeting the roles of internal and external audit to achieve balance
• - key reasons for management to misstate the financial results: red flags to look for
• - case study
• -- understanding the interrelationships between operations and financial statements
• -- identifying the inconsistencies between the operational indicators the financial statements
• -- analyzing an example case

7. IT and Its Pivotal Role in Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley

• - IT implications regarding the Act
• - performing an impact analysis: identifying the key areas of concern relative to IT
• - software products on the market: do they help achieve compliance and are they for you?

8. Future Strategies for Achieving Full Compliance with the Act

• - changes necessary to fully comply with §409 and why it may not be possible today
• - strategic IT initiatives in new systems development that may be necessary to achieve full compliance
• - how a well-thought-out strategy can enhance management oversight,
risk evaluation, and audit effectiveness in the future

9. Keys to the Success of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

• - what will make it work
• - what can undermine ITS effectiveness

Sponsor Background:

Past Participants Include:

• Reynolds & Reynolds
• U.S. Department of Revenue
• NY City Board of Education
• University of Kentucky
• Sundstrand
• GPU Service Corporation
• First Tennessee Bank
• Crum & Forster
• Banco Popular de Puerto Rico
• Carrier
• Union Camp
• New Jersey Highway Authority
• Georgia Pacific
• E.I. DuPont
• Pacific Bell
• The Torrington Co.
• Volvo
• Dayton Hudson Department Stores
• Goodyear Tire & Rubber
• National Liberty
• Scott & White Memorial Hospital
• Tenneco
• Public Service Co. of Colorado
• First Interstate Bank of Oklahoma
• Signet Bank
• Warner Lambert
• City of Orlando
• Monsanto
• Towers Department Stores
• RJR Nabisco
• Shell Oil
• Tektronix
• Stroh Brewery Co.
• University of Minnesota