Though It Doesn't Have To, State Employees CU Complies With Sarbanes Oxley Act

Though not applicable to private companies or non-profits, State Employees Credit Union said its board has voluntarily committed to adopt the full intent and core provisions of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX). "While many public companies consider the newly enacted rules and provisions of SOX to be costly and burdensome, SECU has always thrived in this environment, and we consider most of the SOX provisions to be best practices," said Randy Partin, Senior VP of Internal Audit at SECU. "In the credit union community and elsewhere, SECU is considered an ideal business model with a sterling reputation for integrity. In order to enhance our business model and 'white hat' reputation, we wanted to formally adopt the core provisions of Sarbanes Oxley simply because good corporate governance is the right thing to do." To comply, SECU said it had to make a few minor changes, most of which were completed during April. Those changes included the board formally approving a Corporate Governance Policies & Practices document, which they did in April; adding some compliance language to the Audit Committee Charter and the Employee Code of Ethics, and implementing the "whistle blower hotline" provision of SOX. SECU has contracted this function to Global Compliance Services, a third-party provider specializing in this service to assure confidentiality and anonymity to its 3,500 employees.