Sarbanes-Oxley - European SOX Certification

Curriculum

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.