What is Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)?
SOX act of 2002 is a US government regulation that establishes requirements for public companies and their executives to implement test and maintain internal controls of financial reporting. SOX compliance requires internal policies, procedures and controls to provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of the companys assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements. “Internal control” requirements are achieved by integrating, documenting and testing three main enterprise functional areas, these are Financial Reporting, IT Security and Business Process controls (as shown in the figure below).
