Sarbanes Oxley and Corporate Governance

Chaffee Geddes Chucka, PLLC’s Corporate Governance Services practice will bring unrivalled resources and experience to bear on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance issues and create solutions that dramatically reduce the time and resource-draining components of the Act. Our team includes recognized experts in all areas of regulatory compliance, risk management, internal auditing and IT auditing and security. Using templates and pre-defined checklists, we can rapidly identify and document in-scope processes and key controls, prepare narratives, develop Control Matrixes, test plans, and remediation steps.

Corporate Governance Consulting Services

In addition to providing industry-specific, customized advisory services on the latest corporate governance issues and mandates for public, private and not-for-profit boards, our professionals offer the following specialized Corporate Governance Services:

• Internal audit and IT security: Establish, augment or replace a company’s internal audit function, including IT audit and security risk assessments.
• Section 404 - Prepare comprehensive documentation of a company’s internal control processes.
• Enterprise Risk Management: Help companies find the direction that will lead them to increased profitability, without an unnecessary or inappropriate level of risk.
• Technology tools and real-time compliance: Building the tools and the methodologies that help CEOs, CFOs and Boards of Directors address compliance in real time.
  

Enterprise Risk Management

The Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Framework, as defined by The Commission of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission's (COSO) is a process, effected by an entity's Board of Directors, management and other personnel, applied in strategy setting and across the enterprise, designed to identify potential events that may affect the entity, and manage risk to be within its risk appetite, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of entity objectives.

Without a formalized framework, an entity is open to increased risks, including negative impact on earnings and value, fewer opportunities, competitive disadvantages, shareholder activism (MD&A) and material weakness with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

CGC helps Boards of Directors and senior management evaluate the extent to which potential events might impact objectives. We assess risks from perspectives of likelihood and impact; employ a combination of both qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methodologies, including a time horizon for risk versus a time horizon for objective; and assess risk on both an inherent and a residual basis.

Internal Audit

A strong system of internal controls is a key component to effective Enterprise Risk Management. Whether outsourced or co-sourced, CGC delivers expert, quantifiable and comprehensive solutions that reduce risks and substantially improve the adequacy of management and financial reporting.

Specialized services:

• Provide managers to supervise and train current staff, or provide staff and management to complete an annual audit plan
• Perform internal control reviews and risk assessments to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of an organization's system of internal controls
• Perform comprehensive diagnostics on the internal audit function to identify areas needing improvement
• Develop early warning indicators to help detect when internal controls are not working properly
• Perform an IT audit and security risk assessment to identify information security risks for all or part of an organization’s technology infrastructure

By partnering with our clients at every phase of the audit process, we have the confidence that their internal audit function is supplemented or provided in total by expert staff using tested, state-of-the-art technologies and methodologies. This allows management to focus on improving customer service and the day-to day activities and long-term strategies affecting their bottom line.