I just came across a great article on computer world titled Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs drop, better processes credited . Here’s a slightly paraphrased version:

Couple of studies have come out stating Sarbanes-Oxley costs are going down. The latest, according to a survey by Financial Executives International. The Florham Park, N.J.-based organization found the average company spent $2.9 million on SOX compliance in 2006, versus $3.8 million in 2005 and $4.5 million in 2004. – 23% reduction. The prime driver for this reduction is based on companies automating their controls

“Technology has a lot to do with the cost reduction,” said Sanjay Anand, chairperson of the Sarbanes-Oxley Institute. Public companies “are actually automating their controls. A good 20 to 30%, even as much 40%, of the cost reduction is actually coming from automated controls rather than manual controls.”

But this isn’t the only benefit…

Anand also said: “SOX compliance forced many companies to really understand and document their business processes. As you gain more visibility into processes you can actually streamline them, compress them, make them more efficient,” Anand said. “Once you start to make business processes more efficient from a controls standpoint, you eliminate errors and fraud. You’re automatically making businesses run better.”

Automating disclosure of controls a big part of how Q4′s software helps improve Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. We’re big believers in using software to help increase internal efficiency and reduce risk and it’s great to see the additional benefits being created – namely reduced cost and improved performance.

Technorati Tags: Sarbanes-Oxley, SOX, SOX 404, SOX 302, Sarbanes-Oxley 302, Disclosure, Disclosure Controls, Compliance, Risk

Related posts:

1. SEC accredits Sarbanes-Oxley to returning $350M to Fannie Mae investors
2. Q4 Datacenter SAS 70 Certified and Sarbanes-Oxley compliant
3. Crystallex (TSX: KRY) Goes Live with Q4
4. Study says Canadian Regulators are far behind US counterparts in enforcing the compliance regarding disclosure controls and procedures.
5. Compliance mashups coming to your company soon…

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.