Software Combo Manages Sarbox Compliance

Business-integration software vendor Tibco Software Inc. and Protiviti Inc., a provider of internal audit tools, have debuted a system built to help companies comply with the financial reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The system, incorporating Protiviti's SarbOx Portal and Tibco's Staffware Process Suite, helps document, test, assess, and monitor internal controls over financial reporting, in accordance with Sarbanes-Oxley's section 404.

The combined SarbOx Portal/Staffware Process Suite provides a base for managing all phases of a Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 compliance program. Among its promised benefits are reduced cost of compliance, enhanced business performance, and better information for decision-making.

Technology accounts for 28% of the $6.1 billion being spent this year on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, according to AMR Research. Companies want to use technology to lower the cost of compliance by building repositories of control documentation and data about compliance testing and assessments.

Under section 404, management must assess the effectiveness of a company's internal controls over financial reporting and include the assessment in its annual report. In addition, it must report whether the assessment has turned up any material deficiencies that could impact the company's financial statements.