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For every finance team
SOX and audit readiness
Gaps and findings become one remediation plan, and control evidence is collected each period as the controls operate. The audit becomes a request for a package that already exists.
Who this is for. CFO, controller, SOX program lead or internal audit manager at a growing company, whether you are preparing for a first SOX audit or tired of seeing the same findings come back.
The problem today
Evidence is gathered in a scramble before every audit. The controls operated, probably correctly, but the proof was not captured at the time, so someone reconstructs months of it from emails and screenshots.
Reconstruction is expensive and it is also weak. Evidence assembled after the fact proves that someone could find the data, which is a different claim from proving the control operated when it was supposed to.
Findings make it worse. Audit points and control gaps sit in separate lists with no owner or date, the fix treats the symptom, and the same error returns the next period.
- Scope settledThe accounts and processes that matter, and their controls
- Gaps and findings on one planEach has an owner, a due date and the evidence it needs
- A named owner for each controlThat person signs it personally
- Evidence sources identifiedYou know which system holds the proof for each control
- Agent access approvedYou set the systems they read and the controls they cover
- Judgment controls markedThose stay with your people
What changes
Before every audit, someone rebuilds months of proof from emails.
Evidence is pulled and timestamped each period as the controls operate.
Audit points and control gaps sit on separate lists with no owner.
Every gap and finding sits on one plan, worked highest risk first.
We find out a control has no evidence when the quarter is over.
You can see which controls are missing evidence during the period.
What we deliver for SOX readiness and control remediation
A remediation plan from every gap and finding
Control gaps, audit findings and errors become one plan, with an owner, a due date and the evidence each control needs.
Root-cause analysis
We trace each recurring error back to where it starts, so it gets a permanent fix and stops coming back as next period's finding.
Remediation sequenced by risk
We work through the plan with your control owners, highest risk first, so the effort goes where an auditor will look hardest.
Control evidence gathered each period
Pulled from the system that holds it and timestamped at the point of operation rather than at the point of request.
Reports that trace to source
Every figure in a control report traces to the transactions behind it, so a reviewer can follow it down without asking for a different extract.
Review and sign-off in the workflow
The reviewer signs inside the process, and the signature carries the date and the evidence version it applies to.
Exceptions logged with their resolution
When a control does not operate as designed, the exception and what was done about it are recorded together. That record is what a deficiency assessment needs.
Completeness visible during the period
Which controls have evidence and which do not, visible now rather than discovered at quarter end.
A package the auditor can be given
Assembled from what was already captured, in the structure your auditor asks for.
When agents do the work
Every agent action is logged with the rule that allowed it and the approval it received, so the log is the control evidence for that period. Nobody has to reconstruct what an agent did, because it was recorded when it happened.
What agents handle, and where your team steps in
What agents handle
Agents gather control evidence from your systems each period, build the control reports, update the remediation plan, flag controls that are missing evidence and assemble the package. Every action is logged.
Where your team steps in
You set which systems agents may read and which controls they may evidence. Exceptions go to the control owner, control owners and reviewers sign each control personally, and a person releases anything sent to your auditors.
Systems we work with
- NetSuiteERP
- SAPERP
- QuickBooksAccounting
- ExcelSpreadsheets
- Power BIReporting
From past work
SOX reporting automated from the ERP, so control evidence builds up during the period.
Questions we get
We are preparing for our first SOX audit. Where do we start?
Start with scope: the accounts and processes that matter, the controls you already run, and the gaps between them. Those gaps become the remediation plan, sequenced by risk with your control owners. High-volume, system-based controls are usually the first to automate. Controls that rest on human judgment stay with people.
Will our auditors accept it?
They generally prefer it, because evidence captured when the control operated is stronger than evidence assembled later. We recommend walking your audit team through the approach early rather than presenting it at year end.
How is evidence stored?
In your own systems, versioned, with the period it relates to and the person who signed it. Retention follows your own policy.
Does this replace our SOX tooling?
Not usually. If you have a governance platform, this feeds it with evidence that was previously collected by hand. We work with what you have rather than proposing a replacement.
Related
- Finance transformation and governanceOne prioritized plan for every systems, close and control request, with owners and a weekly rhythm.
- Close accelerationA faster, cleaner close across every entity, with blockers and root causes on the record.
- Agent governance and audit trailEvery agent under one set of rules, with a record your auditor can replay.
- All cross-industry workSeven pieces of work apply whatever your business does.