Sarbanes Oxley Act Case Study

Abstract: Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) act, was enacted in 2002, in the wake of large accounting scandals ENRON and WORLDCOM .Especially for SMEs (small to mid-sized enterprises) that can benefit from implementing the control objectives, for governance, compliance and improved security. SOX compliance did not gave detailed requirements for IT compliance, therefore many auditors adopted COBIT and COBIT guidelines to comply with SOX. This research discusses the latest sox developments in the SME, key findings from ISACA study and COBIT control objectives to satisfy internal IT controls .This compliance escalates and maps out internal it controls that protect information assets. Keywords: SOX, COBIT, ISACA, IT controls.

INTRODUCTION
This act was
Especially for small to mid-sized enterprises that can benefit from implementing the control objectives, for governance, compliance and improved security. Two sections of SOX are noteworthy for its implementation: sec 302 and sec 404, which states corporate responsibility for financial reports and Management assessment of internal controls respectively.
Sarbanes Oxley act has eleven titles:
• Title 1: Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).
• 2. Title 2: Auditor Independence.
• 3. Title 3: Corporate
In obtaining Sarbanes Oxley compliance, most widely accepted standard is COBIT, which will be the path of least resistance to Sarbanes Oxley compliance. Sarbanes Oxley act with COBIT has strengthened control environment, improved documentation, increased audit committee involvement, reduced complexity and minimized human error. Sox has led to increased effectiveness and efficiency of operations, duplicate and superfluous controls can now be easily identified , reduced cost of compliance and external audit can more readily rely on internal