Absorbing Sarbanes-Oxley Within the Agile Community

by Charles W. Butler, Gary L. Richardson

The US Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) could potentially rock the IT community. To this point, the IT field has struggled to understand the federal legislation, its government impact, and the risks associated with compliance (or lack of compliance). Accounting improprieties such as those of Enron and WorldCom resulted in heightened legislative initiative and public awareness. Fundamentally, the intent of SOX is to close loopholes in accounting practices that allow fraudulent financial reporting. When control of financial records is inadequate, SOX imposes regulation and defines measurable monetary and nonfinancial penalties for CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives. As the SOX compliance process has been dissected, there is increasing recognition that the mechanics of the legislation lie within automated enterprise information systems.