Tibco And Protiviti Offer Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance System

Business-integration software vendor Tibco Software Inc. and Protiviti Inc., a provider of internal audit applications, have debuted a system combining their products that helps 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, assists companies with documenting, testing, assessing, and monitoring internal controls over financial reporting, in accordance with Sarbanes-Oxley's section 404.

SarbOx portal is a Web-based repository for internal-control documentation and information about compliance evaluation and testing. Staffware Process Suite is a business-process-management system that provides workflow and task automation, process management, activity monitoring, rules-based policies enforcement, and ERP integration.

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.