Product Description

You may not believe that there’s a fun and easy way to comply with Sarbanes –Oxley, but once you have Sarbanes-Oxley For Dummies, Second Edition in front of you, you’re sure to change your mind. This friendly guide gets you quickly up to speed with the latest SOX legislation and shows you safe and effective ways to reduce compliance costs.

In plain English, this completely reliable handbook walks you through the new and revised SOX laws, introduces compliance strategies for changed and unchanged guidelines, and gives you an effective framework for implementation You’ll find out how to create an efficient audit committee, purchase and use SOX software solutions, and make practical, cost-effective decisions in your initial compliance year and beyond. You’ll also find proven strategies for staying public or going private and learn how to deal with all those SOX forms. Discover how to:

• Establish SOX standards for IT professionals
• Minimize compliance costs in every area of your company
• Survive a section 404 audit
• Avoid litigation under SOX
• Anticipate future rules and trends
• Create a post-SOX paper trail
• Bolster your company’s standing and reputation
• Work with SOX in a small business
• Meet new SOX standards
• Build a board that can’t be bought
• Comply with all SOX management mandates

Complete with invaluable tips on how to form an effective audit committee, Sarbanes-Oxley For Dummies is the resource you need to keep your SOX clean.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154726 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
.,."an informative read..." ("Accounting Technician," May 2006)

From the Back Cover
Includes SOX forms and privatization guidelines

The fun and easy way to comply with the law and maintain your credibility

Need to be Sarbanes-Oxley savvy? This plain-English guide walks you through the new and revised laws — as well as compliance strategies for changed and unchanged guidelines — and gives you an effective framework for implementation. You'll create an efficient audit committee, purchase and use SOX software solutions, and make practical, cost-effective decisions in your initial compliance year and beyond.

Discover how to:

• Establish SOX standards for IT professionals

• Minimize compliance costs in every area of your company

• Survive a Section 404 audit

• Avoid litigation under SOX

• Anticipate future rules and trends

About the Author
Jill Gilbert Welytok, JD, CPA, LLM, practices in the areas of corporate, nonprofit law, and intellectual property. She is the founder of Absolute Technology Law Group, LLC (www.abtechlaw.com). She went to law school at DePaul University in Chicago, where she was on the Law Review, and she picked up a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Marquette University in Wisconsin, where she now lives. Ms. Welytok also has an LLM in Taxation from DePaul. She was formerly a tax consultant with the predecessor firm to Ernst & Young. She frequently speaks on nonprofit, corporate governance, and taxation issues and will probably come speak to your company or organization if you invite her. You may e-mail her with questions you have about Sarbanes-Oxley or anything else in this book at jwelytok@abtechlaw.com. You can find updates to this book and ongoing information about SOX developments at the author’s Web site, located at www.abtechlaw.com.

Customer Reviews

The easiest way to learn about SOX
The author has somehow found a way to make this incredibly arcane subject interesting and easy to digest. This book, unlike every other SOX book I have seen, is filled with practice tips, checklists and witty commentary and is written in a way that makes the statute and the SEC's rules easy to understand for lawyers and non-lawyers alike. It also provides other key sources of SOX information and is a pleasure to read. She should consider changing the title to "Sarbanes-Oxley for Lawyers, Executives and other Dummies who Don't Have the Time or Patience to Wade Through the Other Dry and Boring Books on the Subject". I highly recommend this book to lawyers and non-lawyers alike.

An Interesting Entry-Level Primer on SarBox
For some people, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 represents pain and expense. For others it represents opportunity. For almost everybody, it represents confusion, misunderstanding and uncertainty. This statement goes for CEOs, CIOs, staff, and even the outside auditors. So how does one explain it in as straight forward and simply as possible? One place to start would be to hand them a copy of the Jill Gilbert Welytok's Sarbanes-Oxley for Dummies (2006, John Wiley and Sons, 384 Pages, ISBN 0471768464). While not perfect, the book will provide a quick and dirty overview of SarBox, its history, its historical context, what it requires, and more importantly, what it does not require.

The book starts out with the saga of SarBox. The author covers the political environment, loopholes that existed before the legislation, and how the legislation sought to close them. The author also attempts to debunk myths about SarBox. For this reader, the most important myth is that "internal control means data security". The author states up front and for all to hear that SarBox does not specify any specific data security requirements. This is something all auditors and auditees need to hear and accept.

Chapter 2 covers "SOX in 60 Seconds", or what a sales person might call the "elevator pitch". Essentially this is the who, what, where and why. From here, the author goes into more details about how SarBox fits into the context of other securities regulations and laws. An important part of this chapter (Chapter 3) is the discussion why private companies should and do care are about the legislation and rules. In Chapter 4, SarBox and how it ties into specific financial statements such as the income statement and balance sheet. For those unfamiliar with these statements, it is a good quick and dirt overview.

Part II of the book goes into more details about roles and responsibilities under SarBox. This starts out with the auditors, and then the discussion extends to the audit committee, the board of directors, management and employees. The most important point to take home from this section is that in order to play the game, you have to 'know the playbook'. The rules of the game have changed and everyone needs to know the roles and responsibilities.

Part III of the book goes into a detailed overview of controls and audits. An important aspect of this is clearing up confusion about how the definition of controls is distinct in Sections 302 and 404. From here, the author covers what is covered under a 404 audit, how not to live in fear of it, and how it can be leveraged for success.

Part IV of the book, "Software for SOX Techies", is the weakest part of the book for this reader. The author does give some tips about specific tools. However, the tools selected are very narrow in scope. The discussion seems to miss the important point that organizations should look to build a "compliance oriented architecture" as opposed to buying silo-based solutions.

The remaining parts of the book cover the SarBox horizon, the potential legal repercussions (including discussions about who can and cannot file lawsuits and when they can be filed), the impact of SarBox on outsourcing, and more. Finally, the book goes into "rules of tens", such as 10 ways to avoid prosecution, 10 tips for an effective audit committee, and more.

As I said earlier, the book provides a good quick and dirty overview. It falls short in its discussion of software tools. The other thing that I did not like was the inclusion of the full text of the Act as an appendix. No, not the fact that they included it, but the fact that the text was entirely too small to be read. At that point, they should have just left it out.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book should be read by anybody who has an interest in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and its implications but does not want to get into too much detail. There are better titles for CEOs and CFOs who want a detailed discussion. But for the quick and dirty, it is a good first read on the topic.

The Scorecard

Par on an average Par 4

Well written...
I am a CPA that has been doing ERP and tax related work. I accepted a position for a corporate client doing SOX compliance. The book gave a great overview on the SOX issue. I recommend this book if you are needing to familiarize yourself with SOX.