New Survey Shows Growing Demand for Advanced Technologies to Streamline Sarbanes-Oxley Act Compliance
05 September 2019 - 3:03PM
Business Wire
The Use of SOX-specific Solutions Has More Than
Doubled Since Last Year
The SOX & Internal Controls Professionals Group today
released the findings of its “2019 State of the SOX and Internal
Controls Market Survey.” The survey, which was conducted in
partnership with Workiva (NYSE:WK), measures the costs, execution,
challenges and priorities faced by companies that comply with the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).
SOX Survey Key Findings
The number of professionals who use a SOX-specific tool has
more than doubled since last year.
- Even though legacy, desktop software is the primary technology
tool for 75% of respondents, one-third of SOX professionals now
report that they use an additional SOX-specific tool, which has
more than doubled since last year’s survey.
Use of advanced technology for SOX compliance has
increased.
- The use of data analytics for SOX compliance doubled from last
year.
- More than half of survey respondents are considering using
continuous controls monitoring (CCM), which automates monitoring
and testing of internal controls.
Internal audit’s involvement in SOX and internal controls has
expanded.
- Internal audit’s ownership of the SOX and internal controls
compliance function has increased.
- One-third of survey respondents report that internal audit
spends more than half of its time on SOX processes.
SOX and internal controls compliance costs continue to
increase.
- SOX compliance costs rose slightly, and more than half of
survey respondents report an increase in external audit fees.
- Additional Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)
requirements, the adoption of new accounting standards and the
demand for internal controls related to IT and cybersecurity are
among the reasons why external audit fees are higher.
Cybersecurity and IT controls are top priorities.
- Cybersecurity and IT controls now lead the list of challenges
and priorities identified by survey respondents.
“SOX compliance is a complex process because building,
implementing and evaluating internal controls requires
collaborating across multiple departments, often involving hundreds
of coworkers,” said Hillary Eckert, Vice President of Product
Marketing at Workiva. “It’s not surprising to learn that companies
want better tools for connected reporting and compliance.”
The Workiva platform gives SOX professionals the ability to
connect data from all of their source systems and applications and
funnel that information with a full audit trail into trusted
reports and regulatory filings. “Our customers are able to automate
workflow, improve efficiency, remediate costly control deficiencies
and gain better visibility into the status of compliance,” added
Eckert.
“SOX professionals often spend too much time just managing their
information,” said Ruth E. Nouanesengsy, Manager of Internal Audit
at Lancaster Colony Corporation, who is also an advisor to the SOX
& Internal Controls Professionals Group. “At Lancaster, when we
switched from a manual process to an automated process with the
Workiva platform, we reduced the time spent in testing SOX controls
by 19 percent over the past 3 years, and we significantly reduced
administrative time. Now our external auditors are able to pull our
test plan information directly from the Workiva platform.”
“The SOX and internal controls market faces both challenges and
opportunities from business process transformation and technology
disruption,” added Nouanesengsy. “The SOX professionals who meet
these challenges will create new opportunities for efficiency,
speed and accuracy—and, most of all, improve their value across
their organizations.”
About The SOX & Internal Controls
Professional Group
The SOX & Internal Controls Professional Group is a
community of professionals who work with Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
compliance, internal controls and internal audit processes, which
include documenting, evaluating and testing internal controls. The
group fosters networking, promotes thought leadership and creates
opportunities for members to share best practices with like-minded
professionals to help them increase their value and influence
across their organizations. Workiva is a national sponsor of the
SOX & Internal Controls Professional Group. Visit
soxprofessionalsgroup.org for more information.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190905005217/en/
Camille Kearns Rudy National Director SOX & Internal
Controls Professionals Group camille.rudy@soxprofessionalsgroup.org
847-702-9082
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