One of the foundations of ongoing compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) is having an effective self-assessment program.

An effective self-assessment program supports the quarterly Section 302 executive certification process and the annual Section 404 internal control reporting with process-based assertions. An effective self-assessment program should be an integral part of the transition from the first year Section 404 compliance to an ongoing process in Year Two and beyond. In this issue of The Bulletin, we discuss the self-assessment process and how one can be implemented to reinforce process owner accountability, or if one is already in place, how to improve it.