|
In American Exchange-listed Corporate Annual Reports, appended to the
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firms, one finds
exhibits certified by the CEO and CFO pursuant to Sections 302, 404, 409
and 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
These annually signed statements add a new and formidable burden to the
work of the Internal Audit Team, who must steadily gather data and report
intelligence to enable the CEO and CFO to certify annually.
It is not
surprising that in a 2005 survey of 147 public companies, the NY law
firm Foley & Lardner found that 20% of the respondents said that
they were considering going private.
Intangible Assets such as goodwill, customer lists, capitalized developed technology, patents and
trademarks, and capitalized software have traditionally been listed in
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. Now SOX requires that invention
disclosure, brand, ideas, and licensing agreements must be
disclosed and personally certified if they have an impact on the
financial condition of the company, and if they would assist investors
in determining whether to purchase or sell the company's stock.
Legal departments validate and report on the underlying IP, and verify
rights, negotiate the granting and scope of use clauses and the terms of
licenses, as well as royalties and payment terms, and they must
anticipate the impact of insolvency on license agreements. But their
work is outside the scope of the IP audit of setting up and
maintaining the processes and controls required for SOX.
Best practice IP asset management begins with a process in which
consultants set up a central identification and tracking database,
working with various departments that would be responsible for regular
reports on intellectual property, including brand and ideas.
Established in
1999, BetaWatch Inc., home of digital due diligence
(tm) is an
independent technology audit boutique with no hidden agenda.
Team BetaWatch
International solves management of internal controls, provides
effective and efficient compliance with applicable laws and
regulations. We have expert knowledge of
International Organization for Standardization (ISO),
and COSO, SEC-mandated evaluation criteria.
Using COSO
methodology, SOX Section 404 and Bill 198 certification is systematically expedited
rapidly and correctly. BetaWatch provides an estimate.
Identifying
critical business process dependencies on databases and staff,
BetaWatch documents, evaluates, and tests controls, handing
off control monitoring to operational staff.
With Team
BetaWatch, boards of directors, audit, and disclosure committees
address today's higher standards of governance, and identify and act
upon appropriate accountability measures.
|
