Presaging the Section 404 deadline on November 15 for registered companies with a market capitalization of more than $75 million, distinguished man of letters and epitome of Thorsten Veblen's conspicuous consumption, Lord Conrad Black and his associate, David Radler, face enormous consequences because of bad financial management -- that is, allegedly looting 95 percent of Hollinger's net income. It's no wonder that regulatory requirements mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley and the Canadian equivalent, Bill 198, weigh heavily on corporate chiefs. 

In a recent survey by IBM Business Consulting Services, 450 chief financial officers agreed that their finance departments are unprepared for the pending regulatory challenges: two-thirds see management of business performance and increased shareholder value as their top priorities; a third of the CFOs believe that existing staff do not have the skills necessary to meet the new challenges facing finance. 

Adapting their position from financial constabulary to strategic advisory role, CFOs in the know will depend on the counsel of their CIOs to ensure that the technology processes are controlled and transparent.

Change Management

Traditionally, CIOs have intricate relationships with their CFOs, explaining why technology doesn't work as expected. Now it is up to the chief information officer to recall the two divergent dimensions of Change Management; top-down for executives and bottom-up for employees. Executives, in addition to the usual concerns like resultant improvements, completion date, impact on customers and cost, and now legal compliance, take the shape of the project.

Bottom-up employees and even supervisors focus on day-to-day issues and generally do not consider the business issues. Missing the broader context of why the change is being made, they may question how change will impact them personally. After all, it is the employees who implement the changes.

Most would agree that it is advantageous to engage a third party who has experience working with executives, engineers and developers to create technology strategies and manage controls: an external team with skills in auditing, advising, guiding, managing and communicating to all levels and ages in technology standards and implementation, and to facilitate buy-in.

Team ßetaWatch International offers management of internal controls, and that provides assurance regarding the achievement of effectiveness and efficiency of operations and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. BetaWatch has expert knowledge regarding with the International Organization for Standardization's document ISO 9126, a worldwide standard for software-product evaluation and quality, and are experts in COSO and SEC-mandated evaluation criteria. http://betawatch.com/Sarbanes-Oxley-Primer

BetaWatch provides technology audit risk service that allows stakeholders to gain control over the risk-management process. This enables the board of directors and the audit committee to comply with higher standards of governance and to identify appropriate accountable measures.