Organizing Corporate Responsibility

摘要

The new SAP Management of Internal Controls (MIC) application helps companies move toward Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. It significantly facilitates the SOA 302/404 compliance project and provides internal control documentation that is comprehensive, up-to-date, and auditable at any stage.The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA), enacted by the U.S. Congress in July 2002, applies to all companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and establishes heightened requirements for corporate governance, financial disclosures, and fraud accountability. SOA is applicable not only to U.S.-based companies, because the law covers foreign subsidiaries as well as foreign companies registered with the SEC. MIC specifically addresses two sections of SOA - section 302 and section 404. Although differing in the required scope of coverage, time frame, and form of reporting, the two sections jointly require companies to provide evidence of effective internal control. Management is obliged to document business processes and controls covering all material areas and perform analysis of control design and effectiveness. Weaknesses relating to internal control must be resolved and disclosed.