The 5th annual SOX survey finds financial executives facing risk-assessment challenges in complying with AS5, at the same time they are looking to the new guidance to help them lower external audit overhead. Many are looking to transaction monitoring to help them hit their SOX goals – and at the same time, their business goals – in uncertain economic times.

Five years after the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act took effect, the 2007 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report on Corporate Fraud finds that three-quarters of respondents feel institutional fraud is more prevalent today than it was in 2002.

The 4^th annual survey found financial executives were bullish on the use of continuous monitoring in Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance, have begun to reign in the costs of year-three compliance, recognized a bump in shareholder value and report a risk-based approach to 2007 compliance...

First implemented in the 1990s by many large enterprises, the Shared Service Center (SSC) model allows companies to consolidate client-facing functions in an attempt to reduce costs. Today, shared services are not relegated for use in big business alone; they have been adopted by numerous academic institutions and member-driven credit unions alike..

This paper compares the Oversight^TM Real-time Transaction Inspection (RTI) technology to both traditional and competitive technology-driven compliance solutions. This feature-by-feature analysis reveals that the Oversight system outdistances alternative technologies for conducting transaction analysis, application configuration control, and business intelligence reporting, effectively closing the compliance confidence gap in financial systems and regulatory controls.

Companies are embracing the concept of enterprise risk management but continue to struggle with implementation according to the findings in the 2006 Oversight Systems Report on Risk Management. The national survey of financial executives shows room for improvement in the way companies assess, manage and prevent risk. The report indicates that nearly half of companies surveyed report having faced “significant operational surprises” during the last year.

From the conviction of former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers to the acquittal of HealthSouth’s Richard Scrushy, corporate fraud continues to make headlines. Four years after Enron’s collapse, financial integrity remains a key issue for corporate America. The 2005 Oversight Systems Report on Corporate Fraud surveys certified fraud examiners to report the trends, risks and major concerns that businesses face today.

Despite its cost, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act continues to achieve its objective: bolster corporate integrity and investor confidence in U.S. public markets. The 2006 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report on Sarbanes-Oxley surveyed 261 financial executives and identified growing benefits of SOX compliance. The findings show an across-the-board increase in the benefits that respondents experienced in 2005 from SOX compliance as compared to those reported in 2004. The greatest increases were found in SOX’s ability to improve financial report accuracy, up to 47 percent from 27 percent in 2004, and the ensured individual accountability in financial reports resulting from SOX, up to 65 percent from 46 percent in 2004.

Ongoing SOX compliance faces huge challenges beyond reigning in costs. Nearly half of financial executives feel the biggest issue related to compliance is the need to maintain the morale of the employees responsible for compliance, according to The 2005 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report On Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance.

Like six sigma in the 1990s and total quality management in the 1980s, risk management now buzzes through corporate America as the latest initiative for better business management – and for good reason. Most financial executives say their companies faced significant operational surprises in the last five years. While it’s encouraging to see growing interest from business leaders in better management of corporate risk, the challenge will be for corporate America to transform that interest into action that actually helps reduce organizational risk.

Despite the high costs of compliance, most financial executives describe their company's Sarbanes-Oxley compliance as a good investment for stockholders, and 79 percent say they have stronger internal controls after complying with the Enron-inspired law, according to The 2004 Oversight Systems Financial Executive Report On Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance.