Title: NAPP Annual Conference
1Sarbanes-Oxley and the Procure-to-Pay Process
- NAPP Annual Conference
- February 6, 2006
- Tom Poe, Practice Director, Hudson
- tom.poe_at_hudson.com (612) 524-2600
2I. Overview of Sarbanes-OxleyII. SOX
P2PIII. Whats Next?
3SOX Overview
4Section 1Overview of Sarbanes-Oxley
- The Law
- Year 1 Year 2 Compliance Efforts
- What Stage Are We In Today?
- - Recent PCAOB Developments
5SOX Overview
Fact 1 SOX is Highly Complex
6SOX Overview
Fact 2 Level of complexity in complying with
the law created Unprecedented Volume of
Compliance Work
7SOX Overview
Fact 3 Costs to Comply were commonly
doubletripleor even ...quadruple original
estimates
8SOX Overview
- FEI Survey on Year 1 Compliance
- Companies with 5 Billion in revenues expected
to spend an average of 73,312 internal hours and
10,834 external hours. - Companies with 100 Million or less in revenues
expected to spend an average of 2,143 internal
hours and 837 external hours. - The survey conducted in both Jan July 2004 saw
a 62 increase in projected compliance costs over
that 6 month period from 1.93 million to 3.14
million (based on 2B company size)
9SOX Overview
Section 302 CEO/CFO Certification
- Signature of Approval for each Quarterly Annual
report submitted to SEC - Signatory has reviewed the report
- Signatory agrees the report fairly presents, in
all material respects, the financial condition of
the reporting entity and does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to
state a material fact.
10SOX Overview
Section 404 CEO/CFO Assessment
of Internal Controls
- CEO/CFO must state responsibility for and provide
conclusions about the effectiveness of the
internal control structure and procedures as part
of the annual reporting process - External Auditors must attest to CEO/CFO
assertions about the internal control structure
and procedures - Attestation must conform to standards to be
adopted by PCAOB
11SOX Overview
SEC Requirements
- Quarterly assessment of disclosure controls and
procedures - Annual assessment of internal control over
financial reporting - Assertion in Annual Report, attested to by
External Auditors - Separate assertion from financial condition
12SOX Overview
- Importance of Compliance
- Adverse opinion regarding internal controls over
financial reporting if material weakness - External auditor determines significance of
deficiencies - Qualified or disclaimer report if scope
limitation - Not enough documentation
- Missing processes
- Significant locations not considered
13SOX Overview
Deficiency Classifications
Less than 5 to 10 chance
Less than 1 of pre-tax income
More than a 5 to 10 chance
Less than 1 of pre-tax income
Greater than 4 to 5 of pre-tax income
More than a 5 to 10 chance
14SOX Overview
- Circumstances which result in a Significant
Deficiency and are strong indicators of a
Material Weakness
- Restatement of previously issued financial
statements. - Identification by the auditor of a material
misstatement in the financial statements. - Ineffective oversight by the company's Audit
Committee. - Ineffective internal audit or risk assessment
function, for more complex entities. - Ineffective regulatory compliance function for
complex entities in highly regulated industries. - Identification of fraud of any magnitude on the
part of senior management. - Significant deficiencies communicated to
management and the Audit Committee which remain
uncorrected after some reasonable period of time.
15SOX Overview
10Ks Adverse
of Auditor Filed Opinions
Filings DT 542 75
13.8 EY 793 95
12.0 KPMG 652 95
14.6 PwC 717 94
13.1 Others 378 83
22.0 Total 3,082 442
14.3 As of August 31, 2005 Source
Compliance Week
16SOX Overview
- Year 1 Material Weaknesses
- Cause of problem
- Misapplication of GAAP
- People issues
- Financial statement close process
- Reconciliations
- IT environment
- Financial statement areas impacted
- Income taxes
- Revenue recognition
- Leases
- Inventory
17SOX Overview
Year 1 Compliance
- Sarbanes-Oxley doesnt say you have to be a good
businessman. It just says that whatever decisions
you make, you have to record properly in your
financial statements. - Director of Internal Audit, The Sports Authority,
Inc. - 1.8 billion sporting goods retailer
18SOX Overview
Year 1 Compliance FEI Survey
- 75 of financial executives say their companies
benefited in some way from SOX compliance. - Benefits included
- Ensuring accountability of individuals involved
in financial reporting - Decreased risk of fraud
- Reduced errors in financial operations
19SOX Overview
Not Scalable for Size of Company
- Each Process requires 30-40 hours of work,
regardless of company - Revenue not indicative of level of complexity
- Volume of work and Pricing is based on
- Number of locations
- Number of systems
- Amount of existing documentation
- Quality of staff
- Remediation needed
20SOX Overview
Small Company Issues
- I wont say the SOX compliance process wasnt
helpful, but I think the way the law was written
has put a lot of cost in organizations without
regard to their size and complexity. The one
size fits all regulations that were passed
resulted in spending some money that couldnt be
justified in a cost-benefit analysis. - CFO, Stratasys, Inc.
- 70 million manufacturing company
21SOX Overview
Scalability Example
- Software Company B
- 80 Million Revenue
- 2 million Consulting Fees
- 8 locations
- 14 systems in scope
- Extensive amount of remediation needed
- Software Company A
- 130 Million Revenue
- 900k Consulting Fees
- 1 location
- 1 primary ERP system
- Moderate amount of remediation needed
22SOX Overview
Small Company Assistance
- October 2005 SEC extended Non-accelerated Filer
Deadline by 1 year -
- COSO Draft Guidance for Smaller Companies
- Released November 2005
- No Shortcuts - maintains all 26 fundamental
principles found in the original framework
- The conclusion of the group was that those 26
principles are as valid for small
businesses as they are for large businesses. - David Richards, President, Institute of Internal
Auditors - There isnt a shortcut to good internal
controls There
is not a 'COSO Lite'. - - Larry Rittenberg, COSO
Chairman
23SOX Overview
Small Company Assistance
- PCAOB still reviewing standards for small
companies going forward - Reducing number of processes tested each year?
- Reducing control coverage requirements?
- Reducing documentation requirements?
24SOX Overview
- Year 2 Compliance Creating Sustainability
- Compliance did not meet expectations of getting
cheaper in Year 2 - Companies are hoping to make the most of their
investment and taking the opportunity to develop
best practices throughout the organization
25SOX Overview
- Where Stage Are We In Today?
- as we enter Year 3
- Continued focus on sustainability and automation
- SOX Committee within the company to bring
together one rep from all disciplines CFO,
Internal Audit, CIO, Operations - Inconsistency remains
- Recent Development Recommendation for
Eliminating Section 404 Requirements for Small
Companies
26Section 2SOX and its Impact on the
Procure-to-Pay Process
- SOX Issues for P2P
- Purchase Cards
- Segregation of Duties
- Procurement
27SOX Impact on P2P
28SOX Impact on P2P
- Purchase Cards
- Number of authorized individuals need to be
limited - Types of purchases needs to be limited
- Authorization limits need to conform with
Delegation of Authority (DOA) policy requirements - Purchase limits need to be set relatively low
and/or combined with the Purchase Order (PO)
process - Receipts and related documentation need to be
monitored and maintained - Card statements must be regularly reconciled and
reviewed
29SOX Impact on P2P
- Case Study
- 140 million Educational Technology Company
- Before
- Multiple cards used across multiple functional
areas - Widespread usage with very limited control
(unknown spend) - Statements were impossible to reconcile
- Process Changes
- Separate accounts for each function limited
cards issued - Purchase cards for non-inventory only approved
requisitions required in advance - Procurement makes the decision whether card or PO
used - Statements reconciled and reviewed monthly
30SOX Impact on P2P
- Case Study
- 140 million Educational Technology Company
- Benefits
- Control is drastically improved
- Spend is known and budgeting is much more
accurate - Transactions are reduced and documentation much
improved - Better management of payables / cash
- Challenges
- More process requires better planning and more
time - Not considered to be a bad thing
31SOX Impact on P2P
32SOX Impact on P2P
- Segregation of Duties
- Big issue with External Auditors
- One of the top reasons for material weaknesses
- Particular challenge for smaller companies
- Requires careful coordination between manual
controls and automated system controls (ERP) - Documentation is difficult to develop and
maintain - Segregation of Duties Matrix
- Identifies areas of differing risks
- Allows for focus on critical processes
33SOX Impact on P2P
34SOX Impact on P2P
35SOX Impact on P2P
- Case Study
- 15 million subsidiary of large medical claims
processing company - Before
- Broad access to claims information by various
functional areas - Process Changes
- Introduced staffing changes to isolate access to
claims data - Implemented change management process within IT
to control and verify accuracy of customer data
transmission interfaces - Instituted more extensive functional reviews
36SOX Impact on P2P
- Case Study
- 15 million subsidiary of large medical claims
processing company - Benefits
- Increased security of customer claims information
- Tighter control over information systems process
changes - Significant reduction in claims fraud risk
- Challenges
- Reduction in timely response to requested
customer IT interface changes - Increase in staffing requirements
37SOX Impact on P2P
- Procurement
- Centralized vs. Decentralized
- Shared Services increasingly popular
- More cost effective approach
- Greater control over spend
- Simplifies training and communication
- Likely more process / documentation intensive
- Inventory versus non-inventory issues
38SOX Impact on P2P
- Case Study
- 1.5 billion Payroll Services company
- Before
- Decentralized according to individual operating
business units - Inconsistent process, approval limits, level of
control - Expenditures were very difficult to budget and
track consistently - Process Changes
- Moved to more centralized function at the
Divisional level - Standardized approval processes and review
requirements - Instituted more formalized documentation,
tracking, and reconciliation processes
39SOX Impact on P2P
- Case Study
- 1.5 billion Payroll Services company
- Benefits
- Better cost control
- Easier to budget and track expenditures (known
spend) - Less spending waste across the organization
- Challenges
- Compliance with policies continues to be a real
problem - Decentralized culture difficult to overcome
(enforcement) - Risk of significant deficiencies / material
weaknesses
40Section 4Whats Next?
41Whats Next? SOX Technology
- Why is technology so important?
- Sustainability is all about automation!
- Software that truly fits the company can save
money on compliance in the long run
42Whats Next? SOX Technology
43Whats Next? SOX Technology
44Whats Next? SOX Technology
45Whats Next? SOX Technology
Software Decision-Making Factors
46Whats Next?
- Closing Comments
- Some specific requirements may be modified, but
SOX isnt going away - Needs to become part of internal audit process
like other compliance measures (FDA, etc.) - Focus needs to be efficiency, effectiveness,
control - Seek opportunities to automate wherever feasible
47QA
Compliance Resources
- Compliance Week magazine
www.complianceweek.com - Free Compliance Webcasts Register at
http//finance.hudson.com - Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA)
www.theiia.org - Information Systems and Control Association
(ISACA) www.isaca.org