Sarbanes-Oxley European SOX

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 introduced significant legislative changes to financial practice and corporate governance regulation intended to "protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws".

Our Sarbanes-Oxley European SOX Certification 5-Day Accelerated Training and Certification Programprovides you with a thorough understanding of the European SOX (EU 8th Directive), and how it applies to your job, your career, your company, and your industry.

Since the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 in the United States, many other countries and regions have enacted, mandated and/or legislated regulations/frameworks that are in many ways similar to the SOX Act. For example, in Japan their legislation is often referred to as J-SOX, in Canada Bill 198 is often referred to as C-SOX, and now in Europe the 8th Company Law Directive has its own nickname: E-SOX (European SOX).

While there are some differences across the various SOXes, primarily driven by company law and culture, there are a number of similarities, including:

Governance

• Board of Directors
• Codes of Conduct
• Audit Committees
• Public Oversight
• Frequent Rotation

Risk Management

• Quality Assurance
• Internal Controls
• Control Frameworks
• Industry Standards
• Testing Controls

Compliance

• Documentation
• Testing
• Remediation
• Audits
• Reporting

Our 5-Day intensive boot camp training covers everything that you need to know to comply with not just E-SOX, but with US-SOX as well.

Our objective is to provide you with the tools, templates and technologies that you need to comply with E-SOX. We leverage the lessons learned from the US and parlay them into the context of E-SOX. The fundamentals of both are the same. It is primarily the auditing and reporting requirements that differ.

This program is for professionals in:

• Finance and Accounting
• Internal Auditing
• Legal and/or Compliance
• Risk Management
• Information Technology

Sarbanes-Oxley European SOX Certification Program is offered in partnership with the prestigious Sarbanes-Oxley Institute - the only global provider of Sarbanes-Oxley professional certifications. This rigorous course is based on actual projects and uses real-world training methodology. Once you're certified, you'll possess the in-depth knowledge and hands-on skills you need to protect your company - and take your career to the next level.

Individuals:

• Learn practical Sarbanes-Oxley skills you can use on the job.
• Gain access to a wide range of E-SOX related experts and instructors.
• Increase your effectiveness on the job in days, instead of months.

Companies

• E-SOX certified employees will help elevate and secure your company's accounting and business methods.
• Knowledgeable employees help create a compliant and more ethical organization.
• Customers see great value in certification - they want the people on their engagement to have the best skills, and certification provides that proof point.

Human Resources:

• Employer-funded training and certification programs are a key to retaining skilled staff. Career development and advancement opportunities are shown to significantly reduce rates of employee turnover.
• Certification Training Programs provide benchmarks for hiring and promotion decisions by accurately assessing technical skills.
• For-certification training programs maximize educational investments through immediate validation of skills.

Firebrand Training provides instruction to meet every learning need, including:

• Intensive group instruction
• One-on-one instruction attention
• Hands-on labs
• Lab partner and group exercises
• Question and answer drills
• Friendly competitions between concurrently running classes
• Independent study
• Self-testing

Introduction

An introduction to SOX and E-SOX, and is designed to help you get your feet wet with the legislations, standards, regulations and frameworks that are relevant in the context of SOX and E-SOX. We look at similarities between the two as well as differences, and start to identify best practices for SOX/E-SOX from a Governance, Risk and Compliance perspective.

Introduction to SOX and E-SOX

• Events leading up to the Regulations
• Key Sections, Titles and Elements
• Role of Governing Bodies/Authorities
• Audit and Disclosure Requirements

Frameworks and Methodologies

• Internal Control Frameworks for SOX
• Internal Control Framework for E-SOX
• Industry Standards and Frameworks
• Internal Control Compliance Roadmap

Documentation

Completely hands-on and workshop-driven, this facilitator-led session emulates the real-world in terms of what is required to put in place Internal Controls within the organization to meet SOX and E-SOX requirements. The focus on this day is on documenting internal controls, and we look at requirements and expectations from multiple levels of the organization as well as best practice that has emerged in order to cost-effectively document only those areas of the organization that are relevant to your SOX implementation.

Documenting Internal Controls - I

• Entity-Level Control Documentation
• Process-Level Control Documentation
• Application-Level IT Documentation
• Infrastructure-Level Documentation

Documenting Internal Controls - II

• Flowchart and Narrative Development
• Developing Risk-Control-Test Matrices
• Control Types: Preventative/Detective
• Control Types: Key/Primary/Secondary

Testing

Another hands-on and workshop-driven session, the Testing Workshop focuses on (a) how to develop effective tests, (b) how to executive them, and (c) how to use them to demonstrate design and operating effectiveness of your Internal Controls system at all four levels. This session piggybacks on the same case-study that was used on the previous day and thereby retains the continuity as well as real-world emulation of a SOX implementation. Best practices for testing are presented and recommendations for how to continuously improve the organization's internal control or risk management system are revealed.

Testing Internal Controls -  I

• Developing Test Plans
• Executing Test Plans
• Design Effectiveness
• Operating Effectiveness

Testing Internal Controls – II

• Remediating Deficiencies
• Ongoing Testing/Retesting
• Reusing Test Plans/Tests
• Continuous Improvement

Management

Towards the end of the course you get a "promotion" (to Project Manager) and you get to do what the facilitator did previously. That is, you get to create the project, and put the various pieces together. You'll understand SOX project initiation, resource allocation, ROI and TCC calculations (the "business case"), and making SOX cost-effective and sustainable for the long run within the organization. It is workshop-driven, and is your opportunity to put all the pieces together. This concludes the program.

E-SOX/SOX Project Management -  I

• E-SOX and SOX Project Planning
• Planning/Scoping the SOX Project
• Identifying Resources and Timelines
• Creating the Detailed Project Plan

SOX/E-SOX Project Management II

• Implementing the E-SOX Project Plan
• Using E-SOX for Risk Management
• Calculating Total Cost of Compliance
• Estimating Return on E-SOX Investment

Certification

The final day is designed to review the material covered previously and to prepare you for the E-SOX certification exam. It is expected that you are spending your evenings during the Five-day boot camp reading the study materials and preparing for the exam. This review is an aid in that process and is not a substitute for study. Our objective is to help you be more effective on the job and to demonstrate that via certification.

The CSOX credential is the only globally recognized professional examination certification in Sarbanes-Oxley. The SOX Program provides two levels of Sarbanes-Oxley professional examination certifications:

SOXBase (CSOX) is an entry-level examination certification that requires you to pass a qualifying test to determine your factual proficiency in the fundamental tenets of SOX, as covered in the program.

We will prepare you for your choice of the the following exam tracks:

• Finance, Accounting, IS, IT (CSOX-FIT)

One of these exams coupled with attending our authorized course certifies you at the SOX Base-level, which is a prerequisite to obtaining the industry recognized SOX Pro-level (SOX Professional).

SOXPro (CSOXP) is a more advanced level that requires you to demonstrate substantial experience in SOX, and certifies you at the Pro-level (SOX Professional)

For each exam, Subsequent Annual Maintenance requires a minimum of 12 hours of Sarbanes-Oxley related CPEs or PDUs.

Included:

• Essentials of Sarbanes-Oxley ISBN: 9780470056684
• The Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Implementation Toolkit ISBN: 9780470169315
• How to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 ISBN: 9780470169308

IT Governance Institute Official Courseware

• IT Control Objectives for Sarbanes-Oxley

Firebrand Training enrolment advisors interview all potential students regarding their work experience, degrees and certifications held, and personal fortitude. This screening process ensures a successful match between the customer and accelerated certification training.

To obtain the SOXBase (CSOX) certification, there are no prior educational requirements.

However, students with 1200 hours or more documented SOX related work experience in the past year will be upgraded to the higher level of accreditation, SOXPro (CSOXP).

When you register for CSOXP, you're asked to complete a questionnaire about your SOX-related work history. Please have locations, dates, and number of hours ready.

For more information on Sarbanes-Oxley European SOX Certification, contact the Sales and Enrolment Department on 0844 888 1600.