Findings Show Finance Process Changes and Empowered Employees Help Programs Succeed NEW YORK, July 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Some companies report implementingSarbanes-Oxley compliance programs that are highly effective in meetingboth regulatory standards and the needs of the business, while alsooutpacing the market in lowering costs, says a new study by the 404Institute of KPMG LLP, the audit tax and advisory firm. "In this survey, executives pointed out that it is possible to do morefor less when it comes to compliance," said Larry Raff, executive directorof the 404 Institute and a KPMG partner. "Some companies reported reducingcompliance costs by nearly a third this past year, while increasing theeffectiveness of their internal controls over financial reporting. "The survey showed that leading companies changed their Financeprocesses to become more automated. They also spread responsibility to haveemployees take ownership of compliance," said Raff, adding that the surveybrought more than 900 responses from executives with complianceresponsibilities. Raff said that, according to the survey, good programs: -- Centralize controls that are preventive, rather than detective, in nature, and use automation to lower cost, improve efficiency; -- Integrate compliance into employees' daily operations, thus reducing the need for full-time compliance resources, and, -- Embed compliance efforts in the business, which enhances internal control awareness among employees and gives internal business leaders the power -- and the responsibility -- to make it work. "When standards are set enterprisewide and the responsibility is sharedthroughout the organization, everyone begins to understand the importanceof internal controls. Then, compliance becomes part of the fabric of theorganization, rather than something a centralized, full-time complianceteam needs to police," said Raff. He said the survey results indicate that companies can benefit whentheir compliance programs are collaborative -- supporting both business andcompliance objectives. "Leading companies take a broad view of risk, embedding complianceefforts within the business, for example, having compliance teams such asInternal Audit more involved in early program development rather than beingbrought in once controls were implemented," said Raff. KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm
Some Companies Outpace Market in Lowering Compliance Costs, Says New Survey From KPMG's 404 Institute
August 08, 2007, 1:08 a.m. EDT 2 Min Read
