MENLO PARK, Calif.,
May 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The
eleventh annual Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Compliance Survey, conducted
by global consulting firm Protiviti, identified that only 46
percent of audit teams have been utilizing advanced technologies to
optimize compliance processes, a decrease from the previous year's
survey findings. The longstanding challenges associated with
compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, such as the cost of
compliance and reliance on time-consuming manual tasks, are being
exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as finance and audit teams
are required to perform audit tasks remotely.
"The tasks associated with SOX compliance continue to be
significant and time-consuming," said Brian
Christensen, executive vice president and global leader of
Protiviti's internal audit and financial advisory practice. "The
pandemic brings added burdens to the SOX compliance process, and it
will be important for companies to reassess any temporary changes
in control design and operation to ensure they continue to be
aligned with their risk appetite as the business environment begins
to normalize."
The new survey revealed that the number of hours devoted to the
SOX compliance process continues to rise, despite regulatory
requirements remaining the same year-on-year. Among companies that
saw an increase in their SOX compliance hours, 67 percent reported
the number of hours went up by more than 10 percent over the prior
year, highlighting their lack of automation for simple functions.
This finding can also be attributed to the increasingly more
complex operations of modern companies. Yet SOX teams that rely
solely on spreadsheet and word processing applications, or legacy
GRC (governance, risk and compliance) systems to manage their
control environments, spend extensive time dealing with version
control issues, manually making individual control changes across a
dozen or so documents and preparing status reports.
While RPA (robotic process automation), GRC, data analytics and
advanced technology tools would better enable SOX work to be
performed more efficiently and effectively, many companies surveyed
expressed reluctance about embracing centralized control testing
and increasing their use of automation. However, companies are
starting to take notice, with a quarter of those who do not
currently utilize technology tools in their organization's SOX
compliance process responding that they plan to do so in the next
fiscal year and nearly half (48 percent) responding that they plan
to do so within two years.
Among the survey respondents already leveraging technology in
their organization's SOX compliance process, it is most frequently
applied in testing the accounts payable process (48 percent),
financial reporting process (43 percent) and account
reconciliations process (43 percent).
"The current pandemic is a vivid reminder of how important it is
for audit leaders to be resilient, adapt to unexpected and
disruptive events and ensure they can complete SOX compliance
activities even when they are dispersed and working offsite," said
Chris Wright, a Protiviti managing
director and leader of the firm's Business Performance Improvement
practice. "Now is the time to address longstanding industry
resistance to using technology and automation that has been holding
back the evolution of compliance teams for years."
The Protiviti report, titled "SOX Compliance Amid a New Business
Equilibrium," is based on a survey of more than 700 audit,
compliance and finance leaders and professionals at U.S. companies,
representing a wide range of industries. The survey was conducted
with support from AuditBoard, a leading cloud-based audit, risk and
compliance software company, during the first quarter of 2020,
based on the fiscal year 2019.
Protiviti and AuditBoard formed an alliance in 2019 to
collaborate in providing organizations with a comprehensive
solution of software, consulting and thought leadership for
advancing their SOX and internal audit initiatives.
Survey Resources Available
The survey report, which
contains a special section on strategies for conducting proper
audits during the pandemic, is available for complimentary download
here. Additionally, an infographic, a podcast featuring Christensen
and videos that highlight key findings are also available on the
site. A free 75-minute webinar will be conducted on June 4 at 10:00
a.m. with Christensen and guest speakers: Director of Audit
Solutions Jason Sechrist,
AuditBoard; Managing Director Terry
Hartzog; Protiviti and Associate Director Kristen Kelly, Protiviti, to discuss
implications for SOX compliance and internal audit functions amid
COVID-19. To attend the webinar, please register here.
About Protiviti
Protiviti (www.protiviti.com) is a
global consulting firm that delivers deep expertise, objective
insights, a tailored approach and unparalleled collaboration to
help leaders confidently face the future. Protiviti and its
independent and locally owned Member Firms provide clients with
consulting solutions in finance, technology, operations, data,
analytics, governance, risk and internal audit through its network
of more than 85 offices in over 25 countries.
Named to the 2020 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work
For® list, Protiviti has served more than 60
percent of Fortune 1000 and 35 percent of Fortune
Global 500 companies. The firm also works with smaller, growing
companies, including those looking to go public, as well as with
government agencies. Protiviti is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Robert Half (NYSE: RHI). Founded in
1948, Robert Half is a member of the
S&P 500 index.
Protiviti is not licensed or registered as a public
accounting firm and does not issue opinions on financial statements
or offer attestation services.
Editor's note: an infographic of survey highlights (in PDF or
JPEG formats) and photos are available upon request.
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SOURCE Protiviti