The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act – “Business Matters”
Provided By: Advanced Business Continuity Solutions, LLC – Summer 2008
Full scope accountability, ethics, transparency, duty, full disclosure, compliance, responsibility … These are more
than simply buzz words for public sector organizations who want to meet the expectations of their constituents.
Even the smallest business units or departments interact with or impact a significant
portion of the population. Public perceptions, concerns, expectations, and motives have changed significantly in the past
several years.
It is unfortunate, that gone
is much of the faith and trust the public originally placed in the business entities. Many believe they can no longer rely
on a community-service ethic driving the actions of public and private employees, management, committee members, and/or their
governing boards.
Some experts fear that the business
community may never fully recover the esteemed position they held with members of the general public.
Rather than focus on why things have changed, Advanced Business Continuity Solutions,
LLC would like to address the current business environment and provide suggestions as to how units and departments can use
the spirit and certain provisions of the Sarbanes Oxley Act to react to this change.
A properly structured and functioning Records Management Plan is essential for any
unit or department to function without the fear of increased liability factors resulting from internal and external auditing
and OPRA and FOIA requests.
The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (the Act) is one of the most significant business related events to impact the commercial market place
in recent years. As issued, most provisions of the Act are only applicable to public companies and internal/external audit
teams.
The intent Advanced Business Continuity
Solutions, LLC is to provide a broad view of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and its key provisions to help you understand why so many
constituency groups and oversight agencies are focusing their attention on the Act’s application to the public sector
even though, as written, they were principally designed for public companies.
Briefly, the Act's principal reforms include:
• Creation of an independent public company accounting oversight board (the PCAOB)
• Auditor independence provisions that restrict
non-audit services that accountants may provide to their public audit clients
• A heightened level of corporate governance and
responsibility measures
•
Expanded corporate, financial and insider disclosure requirements
• Mandatory disclosure by analysts of potential conflicts of interest
• A range of tough new penalties
for fraud and other violations
• Increased scrutiny by internal/external audit teams
Remember, “Determine your company or agency’s records
management goals and then formulate an effective plan.”
Advanced Business Continuity Solutions consultants
will assist with all phases of the records management development process by taking a collaborative approach in the planning
and implementation of a viable records management program. We are also able to conduct on-site records
management training for key personnel to ensure full compliance with current records management regulations, policies and
procedures. This will ensure full compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.
