It is been two decades since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) obliged companies that are listed in the United States to implement a “SOX compliant” controls environment.
We guess that you already know about SOX and its requirements. You are here though because you are hoping to make SOX compliance easier or less resource-intensive – potentially through technology.
Perhaps yours is a private company preparing for an IPO. Or maybe you are in the throes of an organisational restructuring that makes it difficult to track your internal controls. Or perhaps time has moved on and you are re-evaluating the adequacy of your control environment. It could be that your organisation has been SOX compliant for years, but your control documentation is largely a scattering of excel sheets stored across the organisation – and you are looking for a way to reduce that complexity and enhance control and transparency.
Impero can help you with all of the above, thanks to our simple-to-implement risk management and controls platform that enables you to automate your internal controls.
In fact, we would argue that managing the risk of financial misstatement is easier now than it has ever been – it can also be less costly. And it all comes down to tools and technology. From risk identification, evaluation and mitigation to controls design, operation, documentation and testing, Impero can help you digitize and automate the whole process, drastically reducing compliance risk.
Internal controls assuring the reliability of financial reports and disclosures must be established and maintained
Create a formal link between financial statement line-item risks, process level risks and related internal controls. Design risks and internal controls and assign them to entities, business areas, etc., based on your own tailored scope, risk assessment and organizational design.
SOX compliance officers and other key stakeholders can easily work with risks and internal controls as a continuous process; no need for external specialists with this intuitive solution.
Internal controls must be performed and documented
Design and apply internal controls to entities, business areas etc., assign them with the desired performance frequency to specific employees and managers within the organization. The automated workflow notifies employees and managers when internal controls are to be performed and reviewed, ensuring timely performance of controls.
When a task or internal control is performed in Impero, it is automatically documented creating an immediate audit trail; no need to export and clean up data. The ability to upload documentation allows one single SOX control documentation repository to be maintained.
The signing officers must evaluate the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls
Use the reporting module to monitor and evaluate controls performance and identify outliers with pivoted reporting functionality – even down to specific internal controls or employees – to verify the effectiveness of the internal controls.
The signing officers must certify whether an effective control environment exists
Report easily to the signing officers, Board of Directors etc. using the reporting module. You can export reports and overviews from Impero, or even give your management and board viewing access to Impero enabling them to assess the control environment.
Audits of internal controls must be performed
Grant auditors viewing access to Impero. This significantly reduces the time and effort required to provide auditors with requested data and documentation.
Take control of your finance and tax compliance management today!
