Re: Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Subject: Re: Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
From: Lisa Wright <liwright -at- earthlink -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 01 Apr 2004 23:28:06 -0800


Anthony,
Hopefully you've already reviewed the messages in the TechWr-L archive from last month. There were also some discussions last year.
Are you just asking out of curiosity or have you been asked to do some specific things? Curiosity is great, but if you have specific areas we'll be able to better answer if you tell us what they are! ;-)

The PCAOB requirements were published last month. They specify a good deal, including documentation requirements, as does the original legislation. You need a process narrative, a flowchart, something documenting the controls and the objectives (there is a slew of information you have to provide around controls) and test plans.

I am still doing QC review for a whole slew of SOX 404 processes. Interesting today, my software documentation training kept coming into play and I kept wanting to know about systematic things that weren't really relevant from a financial reporting perspective. That's one of the big things I've had to do is switch my mindset. It's also a big challenge for the people developing the information that is documented. The people who have the information are usually very concerned with operational/process controls, when SOX is largely concerned with controls that have a material impact on financial reporting. It's difficult for them to separate from that--they want you to include all sorts of information that isn't relevant, and it's the job of the project team to empathize with their concerns without getting caught up in them because the audience for your documents is the external audit team, not the operational folks.

This week I'm helping one of my teams organize their information in a logical order, find gaps and assumptions, etc. Really not all that different, just a different focus. Still basically acting as an editor.

The sox-online.com site has lots of good information. The Approaches section might be a good place to start because it describes an overall project framework and the important role of documentation. The site must be optimized for IE...it's not behaving correctly with Firefox.

Lisa

Anthony wrote:

Hello Everyone,

I was talking with some other technical writers today
and a good question came up.

Can anyone shed some light for me on the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and its effects on
identifying processes, best practices, fleshing out
documentation requirements, etc.?

Thanks for the input.

- Anthony

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5 - ALL NEW VERSION!!
Have you tried the latest in Help Authoring from RoboHelp?
Try ROBOHELP X5 for Free - Now with Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more!
Download a free trial today: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l4

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



References:
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: From: Anthony

Previous by Author: translation tool question
Next by Author: Re: Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Previous by Thread: RE: Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Next by Thread: Re: Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads