SAP SOX Compliance


What Is SOX Compliance?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 requires financial transparency by U.S. public companies, ensuring their data is secure and accurate. Drafted by Congressmen Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley following several U.S. corporate and financial scandals, SOX compliance means having a formalized system for internal controls — one that provides full financial transparency.

In a blog post, the criticality of SAP governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) for SOX compliance is explored. The author points out that two sections (Section 302 and Section 404) are the most important and relevant for SAP GRC and finance users.

What Is SOX Compliance?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 requires financial transparency by U.S. public companies, ensuring their data is secure and accurate. Drafted by Congressmen Paul Sarbanes and Michael Oxley following several U.S. corporate and financial scandals, SOX compliance means having a formalized system for internal controls — one that provides full financial transparency.

In a blog post, the criticality of SAP governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) for SOX compliance is explored. The author points out that two sections (Section 302 and Section 404) are the most important and relevant for SAP GRC and finance users.

An SAP SOX compliance checklist should address the following:

  • Segregation of duties
  • SAP GRC monitoring
  • Safeguard SOX audit trails against emergency access
  • Automate SAP audit reporting

Further Resources for SAPinsiders

Accounting & Finance Expands Its Influence. In this article, learn how UGI Utilities developed a strategic roadmap to better anticipate internal and external demands on the business — including regulations such as SOX. The utility shares how using BlackLine and its task functionality provides intuitive controls for SOX compliance.

Beyond SOX: Addressing non-financial risks through SAP configuration and sound supporting processes. Often, compliance is a focal point during SAP implementation to ensure compliance with financial reporting and regulations, such as SOX. However, there are optional SAP controls that could provide even more value to companies’ SAP system and supporting processes. In this session, Steve Biskie from RSM shares how to minimize and mitigate operational and strategic risks through SAP configuration. Understand who in the organization should be involved in recommending and validating control changes, and how to set up an appropriate cross-functional team to ensure decisions are sound and don’t introduce other risks.

Bridging the Cybersecurity Gap in IT General Controls (ITGC). Compliance with regulations like SOX often require a set of controls in place to mitigate risks to the integrity of financial reporting. Current ITGC testing performed by internal and external auditors is only focused on one slice of access risk. In this session, Brian Tremblay from Onapsis shares why it’s critical to understand the threats that exist to your SAP system beyond the current ITGC scope and how they relate to compliance with SOX.

 

A vendor that can help SAP customers with SOX compliance is Appsian Security. The provider offers a single platform for automating how users secure user identity, govern access, detect and prevent fraud, and demonstrate compliance with SOX, the General Data Protection Regulation, and more across critical business applications.  

525 results

  1. Manage Multiple Compliance Initiatives Effectively Leveraging Shared Master Data

    Reading time: 14 mins

    When different teams work with different procedures in different software solutions to address the many internal policies and external regulations to which a company is subject, it leads to inconsistent master data, unnecessary costs, and a lack of management visibility. SAP Business Objects Process Control 3.0 comes with a global master data catalogue and a…...…
  2. Manage Multiple Compliance Initiatives Using the Multicompliance Framework in SAP Process Control 10.0

    Reading time: 16 mins

    Learn how different compliance initiatives can coexist within a central compliance management repository while harnessing existing master data. This leads to a more efficient regulatory adherence process. Key Concept Compliance initiatives are a set of regulations and legislations that an enterprise is expected to adhere to strictly in the process of conducting its business activities…....…
  3. Reduce Costs for Compliance by Implementing a Risk-Based Internal Control Solution

    Reading time: 19 mins

    Costs for compliance and fraud prevention have risen significantly in recent years and with the current economic situation we’re likely to manage more regulations in the future, further driving costs up. Companies relish efficiency in the GRC space to garner the true benefits of compliance. One means of more efficient compliance is an integrated solution…...…
  4. Optimize Your Statutory Reporting Tasks Using SAP S/4HANA for Advanced Compliance Reporting

    Reading time: 20 mins

    In multinational organizations, reporting requirements are increasing day by day. Keeping track of all the reports generated and submissions can consume a lot of time and resources. The reporting format also changes over time due to changing regulations, and compliance with this format is of the utmost importance. Learn how to use SAP S/4HANA for…...…
  5. Analyze Segregation of Duties in Legacy Systems with Compliance Calibrator

    Reading time: 23 mins

    Starting with Compliance Calibrator 5.1, and continuing with versions 5.2 and 5.3, you can connect Compliance Calibrator to non-SAP systems to perform Segregation of Duties analysis. See how to set up Compliance Calibrator to do this in six steps. Key Concept Compliance Calibrator is one of SAP’s solutions for GRC. It provides real-time controls compliance…...…
  6. Comply with Mandatory E-Invoicing with Confidence

    Comply with Mandatory E-Invoicing with Confidence

    Reading time: 18 mins

    Over the years, companies have been replacing paper invoices with electronic versions to improve agility and to gain better insights into their business. In recent years, however, tax authorities and governmental organizations in an increasing number of countries have begun enforcing the use of electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) by law to combat fraud and save costs,…
  7. Embracing SAP BTP and Avalara Solutions During S4 Migration to Meet Tax Compliance Mandates

    Reading time: 7 mins

    As the global business landscape evolves, organizations are increasingly transitioning from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA to stay competitive and adapt to the latest technology. The way this migration is done affects the incremental value of S/4HANA over ECC. S/4HANA is more than a feature upgrade. It is a rethink of how you adapt your…
  8. Strategies to Leverage an SAP System Implementation for Reduced Cost of Compliance

    Reading time: 14 mins

    Be sure your internal control structure is adequately designed during an SAP system implementation or upgrade. It can be expensive to redo this structure after the designed processes are in place, as an SAP system implementation is a major transformational activity involving organization-wide process changes. Key Concept Internal controls are an integral part of business…...…
  9. Use SAP Solutions for GRC as the Cornerstone for a Product Compliance Framework

    Reading time: 8 mins

    See how to leverage the governance structures inside SAP solutions for GRC for product compliance. Key Concept Similar to Segregation of Duties (SoD) in financial compliance, you can use process controls to define Delegation of Responsibilities (DoR) in SAP solutions for GRC for product compliance. DoR is based on the concept of a responsibilities matrix…...…
  10. Implement a Three-Pronged Approach for Successfully Managing Training Compliance in SuccessFactors Learning

    Reading time: 17 mins

    Efficient management of compliance training is a critical need for many organizations looking at best-of-breed learning management systems. Discover how three SuccessFactors Learning tools can improve organizational training compliance through automated administration, at the same time reducing historically high HR administrative efforts and associated costs. Key Concept In SuccessFactors Learning, assignment types are used to…...…