SEC Relaxes Guidance On Sarbanes-Oxley

The Securities and Exchange Commission today unanimously approved interpretive guidance to help public companies strengthen their internal control over financial reporting while reducing unnecessary costs, particularly at smaller companies. The new guidance will enhance compliance under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 by focusing company management on the internal controls that best protect against the risk of a material financial misstatement.

U.S. regulatory controls are currently drifting away from the rules-based framework towards the principles-based approach seen in Europe. The SEC has been pointing the blame at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board who wrote an over-prescriptive auditing standard.

“With the Commission’s new interpretive guidance for management on the evaluation and assessment of its internal controls over financial reporting, companies of all sizes will be able to scale and tailor their evaluation procedures according to the facts and circumstances. And investors will benefit from reduced compliance costs,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.

“Congress never intended that the 404 process should become inflexible, burdensome, and wasteful. The objective of Section 404 is to provide meaningful disclosure to investors about the effectiveness of a company’s internal controls systems, without creating unnecessary compliance burdens or wasting shareholder resources,”

“Our guidance enables companies of all sizes to focus on what truly matters to the integrity of the financial statements – risk and materiality,” said Conrad Hewitt, Chief Accountant. “Providing management with its own guidance for evaluating internal control over financial reporting will ensure an appropriate balance between management's evaluation process and the audit process. While the guidance is intended to help public companies of all sizes, smaller companies, which will begin complying with Section 404 this year, should benefit from its scalability and flexibility. We have also worked closely with the PCAOB to better align our interpretative guidance and the PCAOB’s proposed auditing standard, which the PCAOB will consider for adoption tomorrow.”

“As investors have made clear, Section 404 serves a critically important role in fostering the reliability of financial statements upon which investors and our markets depend. The guidance issued today achieves a significant step in the roadmap the Commission laid out a year ago for improving the implementation of Section 404 for public companies of all sizes and their investors alike,” said John W. White, Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. “The Commission and its staff have been focused on improving Section 404 implementation for some time, and our efforts have been considerably aided by the public comment process and helpful insights and suggestions that various interested persons have provided us. The Commission’s interpretive guidance should reduce uncertainty about what constitutes a reasonable approach to management’s evaluation while maintaining flexibility for companies that have already developed their own assessment procedures and tools that serve the company and its investors well. Companies will be able to continue using their existing procedures if they choose, provided of course that those meet the standards of Section 404 and our rules.”

Three rule amendments were made

-- providing that a company that performs an evaluation of internal control in accordance with the interpretive guidance satisfies the annual evaluation required by Exchange Act Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15.

-- The Commission also amended its rules to define the term “material weakness” as “a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company's annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.”

-- The Commission also voted to revise the requirements regarding the auditor’s attestation report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting to more clearly convey that the auditor is not evaluating management’s evaluation process but is opining directly on internal control over financial reporting.

Bank Enterprise GRC Win for Paisley

FHLB Des Moines has chosen Enterprise GRC™ from Paisley, to manage its governance, risk and compliance initiatives.

"Enterprise GRC includes the functionality we were looking for and the capabilities to automate and manage our GRC efforts in a single, unified solution," said Mike Wilson, Chief Business Officer, FHLB Des Moines. "We are confident that Enterprise GRC will be instrumental in improving the efficiency of our governance, risk and compliance processes across the organization.

"FHLB Des Moines is a wholesale cooperative bank that provides low-cost, short- and long-term funding and community lending to more than 1,200 members. Bank members include commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions and insurance companies in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota. Bank products and services help members build neighborhoods and strengthen communities. FHLB Des Moines is wholly owned by its members and receives no taxpayer funding.

Internal Controls New Glossary Words

AAA Business Suite AAA Business Suite offers a comprehensive solution by integrating an excellent accounting application (AAA Financials) with client specific logistic and administrative component assemblies (AAA Corporate) and a versatile business analysis tool (AAA Executive). See AAA Business Suite books
AAA Corporate AAA Corporate is a ‘Component Based Framework’- a Personalized Standard solution for managing administrative processes in a timely, cost-efficient and maintainable manner. fast, cost effective and maintainable. Our standard components are used for budgeting, spending/commitment contr, purch, inventory mgt and sales admin See AAA Corporate books
AAA Executive AAA Executive is the Data Warehouse that allows you to access the knowledge within your company originating both from AAA Business Suite as from other applications or databases. AAA Executive extracts the information you need, organizes it the way you want to see it, and maintains this data in the way you decide. See AAA Executive books
AAA Financials AAA Financials is an integrated financial management application packed with functionalities, with an open flexible structure, in whatever field you may be active. AAA Financials is multi-currency, muti-company, multi-language and complies with international reporting legislation. See AAA Financials books
absMessage System i™ environments are increasingly complex. More critical enterprise applications & services are being moved to & hosted on the System i153;. Monitoring the activity & resources of this complex environment is critical. absMessage solves this problem by centralizing & automating resource & message monitoring. See absMessage books
Accela Vendor of software for Web-based enterprise software solutions that automate land, permit, and asset management processes for local, state, and federal government agencies of all sizes. See Accela books
Accela Automation Software to manage and track development, permit, and code compliance processes and improve customer service. See Accela Automation books
Accela GIS Integrates with Accela Automation to provide powerful real-time visual analysis to enhance land-use, zoning, and infrastructure data. It allows creation of multiple map layers, automated map analysis, parcel and asset inventory management, direct editing of GIS data or files, and auto-distribution of information to mailing lists. It is built on the ArcIMS™ platform by ESRI®. See Accela GIS books
Accounts Payable for Agriculture Accounts Payable System to be run as an integrated part of Kirkey's Agribusiness Management System or as a stand alone feature See Accounts Payable for Agriculture books
Activ Financial Systems Vendor of a performance enterprise data management platform provides real-time, streaming pricing data by taking data directly from exchanges, and combining it with supporting added value data. As vendor of record, ACTIV delivers consolidated, hosted and on-site ticker plant services for exchanges around the world. See Activ Financial Systems books
Audit Leverage database-driven software application, based in your choice of Microsoft Access or SQL Server, that helps to manage your entire internal audit process: See Audit Leverage books
Breach Security, Inc. A provider of next-generation web application security that protects corporate-critical information. See Breach Security, Inc. books
BreachGate WebDefend Internet security appliance that provides comprehensive Web application protection to resolve information security challenges such as Identity Theft, Information Leakage, regulatory compliance, and insecurely coded applications. See BreachGate WebDefend books
CallCopy Provider of quality management and call recording solutions for contact centers, See CallCopy books
CallCopy 3.4 A range of recording needs in a single server solution, including random recording with digital screen capture and 100% recording for ability and compliance. Ability to record IP calls on Avaya, Cisco, and Nortel telephone systems without the need for costly CTI licensing. See CallCopy 3.4 books
"Carbon Design Systems, supplier of tools for the automatic creation, validation,
and deployment of virtual hardware models See Carbon Design Systems, books "
Casewise Vendor of software for enterprise modeling products enable teams to visualize, understand, analyze, improve, audit and continually enhance complex operating processes and IT infrastructures. Also Business process analysis and business process modelling. See Casewise books
CheckFree eVent modular, workflow-driven solution that enables custodians, broker/dealers, investment firms, fund managers and third-party administrators to minimize corporate actions processing risk. See CheckFree eVent books
Data Guard Systems, Inc. A developer and marketer of online business management software See Data Guard Systems, Inc. books
FEI Financial Executives International See FEI books
Fishnet Securities information security solutions provider See Fishnet Securities books
Foliage, Inc. technology consulting and product development See Foliage, Inc. books
"GARP Global Association of
Risk Professionals See GARP books "
GlobalRoads provider of sales automation solutions and services See GlobalRoads books
Interthinx provider of risk mitigation,mortgage fraud prevention and regulatory compliance tools See Interthinx books
"Investigo(R) --
provider of a financial services industry enterprise practice management system See Investigo(R) --
books "
Manatron a vendor of property tax solutions for state and local governments See Manatron books
Microsoft AX Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Microsoft Axapta) is an adaptable business-management solution that enables you and your people to make business decisions with confidence. Microsoft Dynamics AX works like familiar Microsoft software, such as Microsoft Office programs and Microsoft SQL Server. See Microsoft AX books
Mirage Networks Vendor of Network Access Control (NAC) technology See Mirage Networks books
MQC Mercury Quality Center See MQC books
Persystent Technologies Vendor of automated desktop availability and compliance solutions See Persystent Technologies books
PSS Systems vendor in legal holds and retention management software See PSS Systems books
RAE Systems provider of rapidly deployable sensor networks that enable customers to identify safety and security threats in real time See RAE Systems books
S2K for Retail Retail Point of Sale, Inventory Management, Purchasing, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, CRM, e-commerce See S2K for Retail books
Summit Misys Summit is a, technologically advanced, multi-asset class solution for treasury and capital market participants. Sophisticated trader tools and risk management combine with rules-based workflow and real-time trade processing to deliver the right information to the right people, at the right time. Mysis See Summit books
Virtual Iron Software Virtual Iron Software (www.virtualiron.com), a provider of enterprise-class software for server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management See Virtual Iron Software books
Visual Sciences provider of real-time analytics applications See Visual Sciences books
WASC Web Application Security Consortium See WASC books
Web Application Security Consortium ( WASC) is an international group of experts, industry practitioners, and organizational representatives who produce open source and widely agreed upon best-practice security standards for the World Wide Web See Web Application Security Consortium ( books
Zserver Suite Zserver Suite solves the problem of storage security with a strong and secure encryption (AES - 256) that fits transparently into any operating system and application environment. With Zserver Suite you can implement reliable and cost effective data protection on hard drives, tapes and CDs/DVDs. See Zserver Suite books

Centerline Chooses Paisley for GRC

Centerline Capital Group, a real estate finance and investment company headquartered in New York City, has chosen GRC on Demand™ from Paisley to manage its governance, risk and compliance initiatives.

GRC on Demand allows Centerline's corporate compliance department to automate its processes, reduce time and costs, create efficiencies, and provide effective assessment and management of key risks and controls associated with its SOX, internal audit and ERM initiatives.

Centerline's merger with ARCap in 2006 allowed the company (formerly CharterMac) to diversify its portfolio and expand into the broader real estate market. The company changed its name to Centerline Capital Group in April, 2007 to reflect that new focus and emphasize that it is one company, with one name.

"GRC on Demand combines the functionality we needed with all the capabilities necessary to automate and manage our GRC efforts in a single, cost-effective software platform," said Domenick Claudio, Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Compliance for Centerline Capital Group.

BII And IAD Deal On Sarbanes-Oxley Tools

Business Intelligence International (BII), makers of the on-demand Aline(TM) platform, has entered into an agreement with IAD Solutions, developers of the internal audit tool Audit Leverage.

Under the agreement, IAD will offer customers its own branded versions of BII's Aline4SOX solution, a web-enabled tool for Sarbanes-Oxley Sections 404 and 302, as well as future products. IAD personnel will also provide insight and development assistance for a new integrated internal audit module that will incorporate both SOX compliance and internal audit functionality. As well, both companies will work on additional product enhancements.

"Given that reputation of IAD, with its Audit Leverage product ranking number one in overall customer satisfaction by Internal Auditor magazine, we're thrilled to be affiliated with the organization. We believe that the combination of our SOX expertise and IAD's internal audit knowledge will give a tremendous edge to companies looking to integrate their Sarbanes-Oxley and internal audit work," said Richard Binswanger, Senior Vice President for BII.

"One of our goals at IAD is to work with other software experts in the Sarbanes-Oxley market in order to provide a single, integrated solution for internal audit management, risk management, and compliance," said Michael Awad, president. "The knowledge and technological expertise that we can glean from BI International will help us in furthering our goals to deliver a truly outstanding integrated solution."

Aline4SOX, which was developed as an affordable tool for small and mid- size firms to facilitate compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Sections 404 and 302, allows users to document and assess the design of controls, and track the testing of their effectiveness and remediation of deficiencies.

Safend 3.2 Enhancements

Safend, a developer of information leakage prevention (ILP) solutions for endpoints, has released Safend Protector 3.2. This enhancement to the Safend Protector platform provides file type control, CD/DVD media white list capabilities, and USB offline usage tracking. An Interface to Content Inspection feature, developed through a partnership with Websense, is also available as an add-on capability.

"With the file type control feature in Safend Protector 3.2, I can feel confident that when a USB device comes back into the organization, there are no executables or other inappropriate content introduced into the company that will compromise my network security," said Bill Liston, IT Enterprise Administrator for Connecticare. "Safend Protector helps us stay smart about controlling the flow of company data without hindering productivity."

3.2 Features include:

recognition of file types -- word processing documents, spreadsheets, images, etc. and allows administrators to control transfers of forbidden file formats. The add-on Interface to Content Inspection feature expands file type control, examining files that are downloaded from an endpoint to an external storage device.

Expanded control of physical and wireless port to include CD/DVD media white list capabilities. Administrators can authorize access to CD/DVDs for legitimate work use yet restrict downloading information such as image files.

Detection of offline usage of removable USB storage devices, tracking file transfers to and from encrypted devices on non-corporate computers. If a company file is downloaded onto a USB device, file transfers from that device are recorded.

Additionally, Policy Distribution Server, external database support, and support for Windows Vista are available with Safend Protector 3.2.

Sarbanes-Oxley Costs Down But Auditor Fees Flat

Financial Executives International (FEI) announced today the results of its sixth Sarbanes-Oxley compliance survey, which found that Section 404 compliance cost Corporate America less in year three of adoption than in each of the first two years. FEI polled 200 companies to gauge experiences in complying with Section 404. Responding companies have average revenues of $6.8 billion.

According to the FEI survey, which included 172 "accelerated filers", companies with market capitalizations above $75 million, total average cost for Section 404 compliance was $2.9 million during fiscal year 2006, which represents a 23 percent decrease from 2005 totals. The data also shows reductions in internal and external costs of compliance, with internal staff time decreasing by 10 percent. The lower costs can be attributed to companies' increased efficiencies in complying with Section 404.

This drop is largely attributed to increased efficiencies, a positive learning curve, and technical systems and software rollouts. We are hopeful that pending guidance from the SEC and PCAOB will further reduce 404 expenses."

Notably, while companies have achieved double-digit decreases in both internal and external hours (other than external auditor) spent on Section 404 compliance, auditor attestation fees have remained flat.

Audit Leverage Features

Audit Leverage is a database-driven software application, based in your choice of Microsoft Access or SQL Server, that helps to manage your entire internal audit process:

PLANNING: Risk Assessment, Annual Planning & Budgeting

PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Timekeeping, Budget Monitoring, Staffing & Scheduling, Audit Histories

FIELDWORK: Workpapers (integration with Word, Excel, and other tools), Audit Program Templates, Review Notes

REPORTING & FOLLOW-UP: Audit Report Generation, Audit Committee reporting, Tracking of Findings, Recommendations, & Management Action Plans.

More information at www.auditleverage.com/portal/

Mobius in ACE Award

Mobius Management Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOBI) , a provider of integrated solutions for enterprise archiving and records management, today announced that it was selected as a finalist in the compliance category of ECM Connection's 2007 ACE Awards. Judged by a panel of industry analysts and editors, the ACE Awards recognize those hardware and software vendors that have demonstrated excellence in promoting the education and adoption of enterprise content management (ECM) technologies within their designated category.

New Internal Controls Tools

Advantix.SwissAddress Advantix.SwissAddress enhances the standard Lotus Notes addressbook with functions as mail-merging, birthday views, telephony and import- / export-controlsThe vendor is Advantix Groupware AG
Approva BizRights The Approva BizRights® Platform serves as a unified platform for addressing enterprise-wide business controls with integration to all major versions of SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JDE and Hyperion. The BizRights Platform also integrates with legacy applications, GRC systems and an identity management solutions.The vendor is Approva Corporation
AppSense Application Manager AppSense Application Manager is an award winning security solution for desktops and servers which automatically eliminates unauthorized applications and controls application access.The vendor is AppSense Ltd
DataThread - Database Audit for Compliance Complete compliance solution for iSeries and i5 native UDB/DB2 application environments. Compliance for regulations Sarbanes-Oxley, 21 CFR Part 11, Annex 11, HIPAA and Gramm-Leach-Bliley. DataThread enforces audit controls on data and process controls are enforced using E-signature and workflow notification capabilities.The vendor is Innovatum, Inc.
Inventory Management Controls for up-to-date Manufacturing and Distribution information.The vendor is Knovalent Inc.
POINT-IN Real-time property and casualty processing system supporting personal, commercial, and worker’s compensation lines of business. Distributes new business processing to the field. All Lines Rating (ALR) controls product definition, rating terms, and conditions, supporting the development & customization of insurance products.The vendor is Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC - Financial Services Group)
Purchase Orders The ARX Purchase Order System conducts and controls all your procurement activities. With the system you can monitor purchasing activities on a real time basis, identify delinquent purchase orders, and compare current buyer and vendor performance to historical dataThe vendor is ARX Technologies
TD/OMS (Tight as a Drum) Software Change Management, SCM, for iSeries based companies. 'TD/OMS' controls the entire software change process. Changes can be tracked from incident to posting to the production environments of iSeries, Windows and Unix. It handles user ratification and documentation of changes. TD/OMS "Object Management System".The vendor is Remain B.V.

Safend

What Safend says about itself

Safend is a leading provider of endpoint Information Leakage Prevention solutions that protect against corporate data loss via physical, wireless, and removable media ports while ensuring data regulatory compliance requirements are met. Safend's award-winning solutions, available exclusively through resellers worldwide, are deployed by government agencies, small and mid-size companies, and multinational enterprises worldwide. Safend is a privately held company founded in 2003, and is headquartered in Tel Aviv with offices in Philadelphia. For more information, visit www.safend.com.

New Internal Controls Words

BancWare Risk management software specifically for the banking industry. Software vendor is Sungard. See BancWare books
Quadrant Risk Management Vendor of risk management solutions and software. Covers Basel II, credit risk, group risk, market risk, operational risk and compliance programs. See Quadrant Risk Management books
RiskComply Enterprise risk management product from ComplySoft. Targetted towards UK finance companies. See RiskComply books
SAP GRC Risk Management Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) from SAP. See SAP GRC Risk Management books

CBIZ Appoints Financial Services Boss

CBIZ has appointed David J. Sibits as president of its Financial Services practice.

Sibits will be responsible for the continued growth and development of the Financial Services practice of CBIZ, which represents approximately 46% of the Company's total reported 2006 revenue of $600 million. The practice provides accounting, tax, financial advisory, valuation, merger & acquisition, internal audit and Sarbanes-Oxley consulting services to clients throughout the United States.

More Internal Control Software Vendors, Tools and Jargon

Amdocs Vendor of Customer Relationship Management software, primarily to the telecoms industry. See Amdocs books
Applimation Informia enables organizations to manage the growth of structured and unstructured data to achieve Information Lifecycle Management objectives, improve operational efficiency, reduce total cost of ownership and meet compliance requirements. Produced by www.applimation.com See Applimation Informia books
Audible Magic Vendor of anti-piracy solutions centering on content identification and content fingerprinting. See Audible Magic books
AXE and APZ Switching equipment from Ericsson See AXE and APZ books
Compli Software vendor whose flagship product is the Dealership Compliance Management System (DCMS). The is aimed at U.S. automotive dealers. The company aims to offer compliance with a wide range of regulatory frameworks including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and its requirements on Internal Controls. See Compli books
Compliancy Software vendor of BPM-based solution for automating and managing business processes for COSO based Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). See Compliancy books
DB2 Enterprise level database from IBM. See DB2 books
Esprit Financial Group Provider of online financial services including payday loans, forex, Advanced Electronic Funds Management and structured debt resolution. See Esprit Financial Group books
Incipient Vendor of storage virtualization and data migration software. See Incipient books
InfoUSA provider of prospect databases used in direct mail applications. See InfoUSA books
Enterprise risk management software suite. Based on a business process management architecture. Software vendor is Compliancy. See Internal Control Management books
ISO 8583 Interchange message specifications is the International Organization for Standardization standard for systems that exchange electronic transactions made by cardholders using payment cards. See ISO 8583 books
LANDesk Software Vendor IT service management solutions for desktops, servers and mobile devices See LANDesk Software books
Mobius Management Enterprise archiving and records management vendor See Mobius Management books
NetSol Vendor of enterprise software and IT services to the financial services industry. See NetSol books
Teradata Software vendor. Division of NCR Corporation specializing in Enterprise Data warehousing See Teradata books
ViewDirect Enterprise level archiving and records management product from Mobius Management See ViewDirect books
Vmware Vendor of IT infrastructure virtualization and management software. Division of EMC See Vmware books
Vmware Desktop and workstation visualization software tool of IT administrators. Vendor is Vmware a division of EMC. See Vmware books
WebSphere MQ IBM WebSphere® MQ delivers reliable application integration for applications and Web services, allowing you to fully leverage your existing software and hardware investments, with the proven and trusted market leader. See WebSphere MQ books

LANDesk 4.0 Launched

LANDesk Software, Ltd. has launched LANDesk(R) Process Manager 4.0, a management tool that enables the automation of tasks and complex processes requiring manual oversight in nearly any organization. The new solution features an online workflow resource center with multiple process templates, and also directly integrates with Microsoft(R) Active Directory and BMC(R) Remedy(R) Service Desk, a premium service-desk capability.

LANDesk Process Manager 4.0 integrates with other IT tools such as the identity and security layers in Microsoft's Active Directory, and support incidents within BMC Remedy Service Desk. Combining LANDesk's process automation capability with BMC Remedy Service Desk incidents helps streamline support processes, improve operational efficiencies, and facilitate compliance with ITIL service and support processes.

"LANDesk Process Manager 4.0 is the next step in our strategy to deliver IT service management solutions that increase bottom-line business value," said Steve Workman, vice president of product management for LANDesk. "It ensures the consistent and repeatable execution of common IT tasks, and includes an online resource center with a number of predefined templates that are customizable, easy to use, and help just about any department in an organization meet compliance needs and organizational objectives."

LANDesk Process Manager 4.0 also introduces a new reporting module which provides in-depth reporting and monitoring of IT and other management processes to support audit reporting and other business needs. These reports are available via the web, providing needed content for those remote and often traveling executives and system administrators.

Financial Executives International

FEI publicity Text

Financial Executives International (FEI) is the leading advocate for the views of corporate financial management. Its 15,000 members hold policy-making positions as chief financial officers, treasurers and controllers. FEI enhances member professional development through peer networking, career management services, conferences, teleconferences and publications. Members participate in the activities of 85 chapters, 74 in the U.S., 11 in Canada.

Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF) is the non-profit 501(c)(3) research affiliate of FEI. FERF researchers identify key financial issues and develop impartial, timely research reports to FEI members and non-members alike, in a variety of publication formats.

Ducati Delisting

Ducati is to delist from the NYSE and withdraw its American Depositary Shares. Registration and reporting obligations with the SEC under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 will be terminated.

The cost of maintaining the ADS programme and complying with the registration requirements coupled with low trading volumes, are cited as the reason for Ducati's decision.

NextPage Document Retention

NextPage today announced that its award-winning, flagship product, NextPage Document Retention, was named a finalist in the Best New Product or Service in Computer Software category for The 2007 American Business Awards.

NextPage Document Retention is designed to help companies reduce the risk of managing documents on the desktop. NextPage's document retention tool securely tracks document versions across e-mail, hard drives, removable media and servers, providing an audit trail to users about all document versions so they can purge working copies and post final versions to a central server for archival and lifecycle management.

Koor Delist From NYSE

Israeli holding company Koor Industries (NYSE & TASE:KOR) is to delist from the NYSE and terminate its American Depositary Receipt program (ADR).

Reasons given for the delisting are the small number of US shareholders, low trading volume, cost of the ADR program, cost of compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley.

Koor will continue to list on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

NextPage

NextPage publicity text

NextPage delivers powerful document tracking services that enable enterprises to manage and control the risk of Microsoft Office documents on the desktop. With the patent pending document tracking technology enterprises can securely track the more than 7.5 Billion Office documents that are sent as e-mail attachments, stored on users' desktops and removable media or saved to centralized servers. The NextPage 2 Document Retention service increases document retention compliance, as the only product that lets organizations apply retention policies to versions on the desktop by purging working copies and posting final versions to a central server for archival and lifecycle management. The NextPage products reduce the cost of document eDiscovery, prevent wasted time tracking down document versions and reduce the risk of documents. For more information, visit www.nextpage.com or e-mail us at npinfo@nextpage.com.

Securent Entitlement Management Solution Released

Securent has released a new version of Securent Entitlement Management Solution (EMS), further enabling organizations to meet their security and compliance requirements by securing access to sensitive applications and information.

The selling point for the new release is "superior end-to-end protection for organizations' sensitive information, the broadest application support available in an entitlement management product, and increased performance and scalability for distributed enterprise deployments."

Gus Tepper, vice president of software development for business information provider The First American Corporation, stated: "Our compliance and information security efforts demand that we manage user entitlements and identity access across our entire enterprise and not just within individual applications. We selected Securent EMS because of its compliance with the XACML standard and its ability to provide us with policy-driven access controls that have the granularity, consistency, scalability and flexibility we need across our global enterprise. Securent's approach to fine-grained entitlement management has the potential to significantly reduce the time and cost of developing custom applications and portals. We are particularly interested in the broader application and platform support, including JBoss Portal, of the new Securent EMS 3.0 release."

Securent EMS v3.0 now extends its capabilities to protect critical off-the-shelf applications, including Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, JBoss Portal 2.4 and 2.6, and BEA WebLogic Portal 9.2. Other enhancements include end-to-end protection of sensitive data by adding consistent and seamless policy enforcement to databases, including Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, to complement existing policy enforcement capabilities at the application and presentation layers.

Regulatory frameworks that the software can help with are Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), Basel Capital Accord (Basel II), and the National Association of Securities Dealers Rule 2711 (NASD 2711).

Approva CEO Award

Approva(R) Corporation (www.approva.net/), a continuous controls monitoring and audit automation software vendor, today announced that CEO Prashanth "PV" Boccasam is a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year(R) 2007 Award in the Greater Washington Region.

Internal Control Management

What Compliancy says about Internal Control Management

Compliancy' Internal Control Management (ICM) software is a next generation BPM-based solution for automating and managing business processes for Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and compliance requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

ICM is a comprehensive, forms and template driven platform requiring no programming that is accessible via any Web based network. ICM provides easier and more effective complete control management capabilities including complete automation of all control processes, real-time continuous control monitoring, segregation of duties, security authorization, automated testing/auditing, certifications, evidence tracking, control documentation and associated control document management, issues identification and remediation, and real-time management oversight and on-demand reporting.

Compliancy’s ICM is the only solution to provide a single platform that can automate any risk management and compliance requirement and any general business process – effectively two products in one allowing you to streamline your entire business. The result is greater cost reduction and improved risk management that is also a future proof investment.

More info at www.compliancysoftware.com

Compli

What Compli says about itself

Privately held Compli is headquartered in Portland, Ore., with sales offices in California, Florida, Texas, and Massachusetts. With more than 42,000 users, Compli is the leading provider of compliance management and risk mitigation products for auto dealerships. Compli's Dealership Compliance Management System (DCMS) controls, tracks, and automates regulatory compliance operations within and across dealerships. The DCMS is an early warning system that uncovers, reports on, and mitigates liabilities to save dealers money on litigation, insurance, and overhead.

For more information about the Compli DCMS, to view a product demonstration, or for the latest news and information from Compli, visit www.compli.com or call 1-866-294-5545 toll free. Dealerships interested in gauging their current levels of compliance may receive a free online appraisal with the Compli DCA tool at www.compli.com/dca2007.

CanWest Extends New York Delisting Trend

CanWest Global Communications Corp. (CanWest) announced today that it is voluntarily withdrawing the listing of its non-voting shares from The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). These shares trade under the symbol CWG.

"The primary market for CanWest Global equity securities is in Canada. Capital is more mobile than ever and those who want to invest in CanWest have a very liquid exchange in Toronto," said President and CEO Leonard Asper. "We believe that the trading volume of our securities on the NYSE is not sufficient to support the continuation of our listing and the associated listing and administrative costs."

CanWest's non-voting shares will continue to be listed and traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol CGS.A. CanWest's subordinate voting shares are listed and trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol CGS.

CanWest Global Communications Corp. (www.canwestglobal.com), (TSX: CGS and CGS.A, NYSE: CWG) an international media company, is Canada's largest media company.

Compliancy

Compliancy Software offers a next generation, BPM-based solution for automating and managing business processes for COSO based Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and compliance requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley. Compliancy solutions enable a future-proof investment that more effectively reduces costs with its unique Individualized Task Routing (ITR), optimized automation, and integrated roles driven interfaces for greater ease of use and lower training and support costs. Visit us at www.compliancysoftware.com.

Certus Products

Certus has a range of products.

Certus Compliance for SOX 404/302
Certus provides a comprehensive, sustainable solution to support the most complex Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance activities. Certus 404/302 manages the full cycle of SOX activities, from the design and documentation of internal controls to testing and remediation, assertions and auditor attestation.

Certus Compliance for NASD
Allows financial services companies to manage and view NASD compliance activities and Certus 404/302 compliance activities through a single system of record.

Certus for Portals
Companies can include key compliance information— such as control data, issues, summaries, reports, and alerts—in a financial management portal or enterprise information portal (EIP) in the form of compliance portlets.


Certus Audit
Certus Audit is designed to facilitate audit efforts and reduce audit costs associated with the SOX compliance effort. In particular, Certus Audit focuses on the audit walkthrough activity and allows internal and external auditors to:

Create a list of the significant accounts where a walkthrough will take place.
For each walkthrough account, gather, publish and archive all related documentation so that it can be used as evidence that internal controls are functioning properly.

Certus Connector for Vignette
Certus has partnered with Vignette®, the leading provider of content management solutions, to bring the power of Vignette Records & Documents solution to Certus 404/302. Vignette's secure repository will provide efficient management and protection of compliance information, tying in Certus' flexible compliance framework to the most current and relevant business critical information.

New Internal Controls Jargon, Tools and Vendors

ACL Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application. Provided by ACL Services. See ACL books
"ACL Services Vendor of business analytics tools and continous controls monitoring software. Provides solutions across the following areas.
-- Audit
-- Controls Compliance
-- Regulatory Compliance (Sarbanes-Oxley)
-- Fraud Detection
-- Data Quality
See ACL Services books "
Aline Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Aline books
Approva Provider of continuous controls monitoring and audit software. Flagship product is Approva BizRights See Approva books
Approva BizRights Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application. Elements include Continous Controls Monitoring and Audit Software See Approva BizRights books
"ARIS Compliance Management Solution Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application made up of six tools - Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)
-- Process Intelligence & Performance
-- Business-Driven SOA
-- Process-Driven SAP
-- Enterprise Architecture
-- Enterprise BPM
See ARIS Compliance Management Solution books "
Asset Control Provider of Centralized Data Management (CDM) to financial industry firms. See Asset Control books
BearingPoint a management and technology consulting firm See BearingPoint books
Cartesis Software vendor. Flagship product is Cartesis 10 which combines performance management with Governance, Risk and Compliance Modules See Cartesis books
CODA-Control Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See CODA-Control books
Compli Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Compli books
Compliancy Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Compliancy books
ControlCase Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See ControlCase books
Enterprise Control Manager Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Enterprise Control Manager books
Enterprise Risk Assessor (ERA) Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Enterprise Risk Assessor (ERA) books
Enterprise Risk Manager Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Enterprise Risk Manager books
eProcessManager Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See eProcessManager books
Galileo Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Galileo books
GTSI Software vendor specialisng in Technology Lifecycle Management See GTSI books
John Kerry Chairman of Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. See John Kerry books
Magique Risk Manager Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Magique Risk Manager books
Optial Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Optial books
Pentana Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Pentana books
Risk Navigator Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Risk Navigator books
SarbOx Portal Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See SarbOx Portal books
SOXlite Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See SOXlite books
Stellents Sarbanes-Oxley Solution Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Stellents Sarbanes-Oxley Solution books
TeamMate Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See TeamMate books
The Self Assessor (TSA) Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See The Self Assessor (TSA) books
Virsa Systems ComplianceOne Sarbanes-Oxley-related Application See Virsa Systems ComplianceOne books

Approva CCM Integrated into Paisley GRC Offering

Paisley, a GRC and audit software vendor, today announced that Approva® Corporation, a provider of continuous controls monitoring (CCM) software, has become a technology enablement partner.

Paisley will integrate Approva's BizRights® CCM platform with Paisley Enterprise GRC™, a comprehensive governance, risk and compliance platform. The partnership enables business, finance, IT and internal audit professionals to automate the on-demand testing, closed-loop remediation and continuous, exception-based monitoring of controls within and across business systems using Approva to map controls-related data to the respective profile in Paisley Enterprise GRC.

Paisley Enterprise GRC enables organizations to standardize and automate GRC processes for greater efficiency, productivity and collaboration. Approva's CCM software complements Paisley Enterprise GRC by allowing businesses to continuously monitor controls throughout the enterprise to improve corporate governance, reduce risk and ensure compliance.

Applimation Informia

What Applimation says about Informia. Applimation's website is www.applimation.com

Data Management - Applimation Informia™

•Increase performance and stability of enterprise applications
•Reduce infrastructure, maintenance and operating costs
•Analyze impact of data management strategies
•Identify inactive and historic data based on application business rules
•Extend and customize pre-seeded data management modules
•Support heterogeneous enterprise applications with a single Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) platform


Manage Data Growth in Your Enterprise Application Environments

Applimation Informia is a complete data management solution for Oracle
E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Enterprise, Siebel and custom applications. It provides archiving functionality to reduce the size of your production database and improve performance. Informia also creates small copies of production useful for testing without increasing disk space requirements.

Informia delivers robust policy-based functionality for data identification, relocation, archiving, encapsulation and subsetting. Organizations using Informia increase application performance and facilitate testing and development, while ensuring the integrity of critical business information and reducing storage costs.

Informia provides the following:

•Graphical dashboard with drill-down to details for data trending analysis
•Seamless access to archived data through the standard enterprise application user interface
•Automated archiving and purging of inactive or historical data
•Data masking of sensitive data in testing environments
•Encapsulated XML archive for fully retired data
•Automated creation of small project-specific small test databases

Whether you are running the Oracle E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft Enterprise, Siebel or custom applications, your enterprise application database is growing substantially along with your business. Sustaining high performance production environments and satisfying testing demands is putting a load on your IT resources and infrastructure. Applimation’s Informia data management solution provides a comprehensive ILM solution including analytical dashboards, archiving and subsetting to manage your entire enterprise application environment.

Solution Components:
>> Oracle Archiving
>> PeopleSoft Archiving
>> Siebel Archiving
>> Database Subsetting

Sarbanes-Oxley Software

A listing of various Sarbanes-Oxley related software solutions. Over the coming weeks we intend posting descriptions links to their respective vendors.

ACL
Aline
Applimation, Inc.
Approva BizRights
ARIS Compliance Management Solution
CASA
Certus
CODA-Control
Compli
Compliancy
ControlCase
Enterprise Control Manager
Enterprise Risk Assessor (ERA)
Enterprise Risk Manager
Focus Control Assurance
eProcessManager
Galileo
Logical Apps
Magique Risk Manager
OpenPages
Optial
Osterio
Pentana
policyIQ
Risk Navigator
SarbOx Portal
SOXlite
Stellent's Sarbanes-Oxley Solution
TeamMate
The Self Assessor (TSA)
Virsa Systems ComplianceOne

The ARIS Platform

The ARIS Platform from ID Scheer is made up of six tools:-

-- Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)
-- Process Intelligence & Performance
-- Business-Driven SOA
-- Process-Driven SAP
-- Enterprise Architecture
-- Enterprise BPM

The ARIS Platform tools are assigned to four modules

ARIS Strategy Platform -- For introducing a strategy management system using balanced scorecard approach and analyzing performance indicators in business processes.

ARIS Design Platform -- For distributed modeling, simulation, optimization, and publishing of business processes and managing IT architectures.

ARIS Implementation Platform -- For executing process models in IT systems, configuring SAP systems, managing business rules, and creating service-oriented architectures.

ARIS Controlling Platform -- For dynamic monitoring of current business processes, implementing corporate performance management systems, and establishing an enterprise-wide compliance management system.

Certus

Certus publicity blurb

Certus transforms reactive compliance and risk management to proactive Enterprise Governance Management (EGM). Certus Governance supports multiple compliance initiatives through a single system-of-record that delivers governance intelligence to internal and external stakeholders through a unified view of all compliance information. Customers realize superior business results through increased efficiency, clearer accountability, and greater visibility throughout the enterprise. Certus customers include Alcon, Inc., Dell, DIRECTV, Countrywide Financial, FirstEnergy, Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, The Mills Corporation, PepsiCo, Polaroid, Seagate Technology, and Suntron. To learn more about Certus, visit www.certus.com

Approva Integrates Into Office

Approva has released new Office Business Application (OBA) capabilities for its continous controls monitoring and audit automation offering. The GRC elements have been integrated into Microsoft's Office suite.

As a result of the integration, which is being showcased in the Microsoft pavilion at the Software 2007 conference in Santa Clara California, business users will gain on-demand access to controls within the familiar environment of Microsoft Office.

With this integration, Microsoft customers will be able to utilize their existing investments in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 to more transparently access, share and store information related to controls and compliance to support controls monitoring and analysis, remediation activities and streamline audits.

Senate Presses For Delay in Section 404

Chairman Sen. John Kerry and other members of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship have pressed the SEC and the PCAOB for additional time and assistance for small compnanies to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Specifically the request was for help in complying with the Internal Controls elements or Section 404.

Section 404 requires management and auditors to attest to the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting.

Kerry and ranking member, Olympia J. Snowe asked SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and PCAOB Chairman Mark Olson to allow small non-accelerated filers up to one additional year to comply with any changes to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley law. Witnesses advocated for the delay and other assistance for small firms at a hearing held by Kerry in the Small Business Committee on Sarbanes-Oxley last month.

Other requests included:-

-- More assessment on the impact to small companies of having to comply with the internal controls regime;
-- Publishing of a small business compliance guide;
-- The PCAOB to carefully monitor auditors so that small public companies do not face undue red tape beyond the law's requirement;
-- The SEC's Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies to report regularly on the law's impact on small firms and how costs can be reduced; and
-- The SEC to consider raising the shareholder threshold for securities registration, which hasn't been adjusted for nearly 40 years.


The PCAOB monitoring auditors over red tape may seem a ironic to seasoned SOX practitioners. The PCAOB has frequently been made the scapegoat in discussions about Sarbanes-Oxley costs. Auditors, complain the costs are high because of the incredibly detailed and prescriptive auditing standard put out by the PCAOB,

SOX Software Aline4SOX

Aline4SOX is produced by BI International, which claims to be a "global expert in providing the frameworks, structures and analytics that allow businesses to properly manage Risk and Performance".

BI International further claims:-

By focusing on structuring data rather than collecting documents, Aline™4SOX allows a SOX team to build a business control framework. Users find they turn 404 /302 from an unending process of document pass-around into straightforward accessibility.

§ Anyone throughout the enterprise can be assigned the rights to enter data and retrieve information in the form they need.

§ Practitioners can generate custom narratives and matrices on demand; they can view and print up-to date project status via the easiest to use and most powerful reporting and analytic engine in the industry.

§ All reports can be delivered in Microsoft Excel® and Word®; users have the flexibility to develop custom formatting and what-if scenarios.


Aline4SOX is provided as "Software as a Service" and is accessed through a normal Internet Explorer Browser.

The pricing structure is a low monthly fee with no long term commitment. They can assign an unlimited number of users.

ACL and Deloitte and Touche Agreement

ACL Services has entered into an alliance agreement with Deloitte & Touche LLP (“Deloitte & Touche”). Deloitte & Touche will utilize ACL’s Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM) solutions in conjunction with services associated with leading practices in internal controls, compliance and business performance improvement. This enables Deloitte & Touche’s Data Quality and Integrity (DQI) practice to assist clients in implementing solutions utilizing ACL's CCM technology.

The alliance will enable organizations to tap into ACL technology to help them better assess compliance, control costs, and minimize losses. ACL CCM solutions automatically and continuously check and validate transactional data from any corporate data system, including ERP, mainframe system or custom application, against control parameters and business rules.

ACL CCM analytics identify suspicious activity, errors, segregation of duties issues, and exceptions that may be hidden within high volumes of transactions. Management and audit professionals receive timely notification of control breaches, can quickly review quantified exposure of business risk, and can drill down to specific exceptions and transactions to resolve potential problems before they escalate.

ACL website

GTSI Internal Audit

GTSI (R) Corp. (NASDAQ:GTSI) , an enterprise solutions and services provider, has appointed Peter Whitfield as Vice President of Internal Audit and Business Process Improvement. Mr. Whitfield will be responsible for the company's internal audit function including Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance and will report to Joe Ragan, the Company's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

"We are delighted to welcome Peter as part of the GTSI team," said Mr. Ragan. "He brings over 25 years of experience in finance and line operational experience in the telecom and retail industries and has an exceptionally strong background in accounting, management, and financial issues relating to companies in transition. His strengths will enhance our financial organization."

Prior to joining GTSI, Mr. Whitfield held various executive leadership positions in sales operations and finance for companies including MCI, Winstar, and Broadwing, and most recently a leading internet based retailer where he was responsible for improving operational processes.

Amcor Delists

Amcor Limited (NASDAQ:AMCR) announced on May 2, 2007 that it intends to voluntarily withdraw its American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) from listing on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC and to deregister its ADRs and its ordinary shares under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act after the recently adopted deregistration rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) become effective on June 4, 2007.

"The Board of Directors determined to take this action based on several factors, including the ongoing expense of preparing additional periodic reports for filing with the SEC and the substantial increase in costs to meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act," stated Ken MacKenzie, Amcor's Managing Director and CEO.

Amdocs

Amdocs publicity blurb

Amdocs combines innovative software and services with deep business knowledge to accelerate implementation of integrated customer management by the world’s leading service providers. By delivering a comprehensive portfolio of software and services that spans the customer lifecycle, Amdocs enables service companies to deliver an intentional customer experienceTM, which results in stronger, more profitable customer relationships. Service providers also benefit from a rapid return on investment, lower total cost of ownership and improved operational efficiencies. A global company with revenue of $2.48 billion in fiscal 2006, Amdocs has over 16,000 employees and serves customers in more than 50 countries around the world. For more information, visit Amdocs at www.amdocs.com.

Certus Compliance for SOX 404 302

Certus blurb about

Certus Compliance for SOX 404/302

Distribute and manage responsibility for SOX compliance activities throughout your organization

Ensure on-time, accurate financial reporting
Certus provides a comprehensive, sustainable solution to support the most complex Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) compliance activities. Certus 404/302 manages the full cycle of SOX activities, from the design and documentation of internal controls to testing and remediation, assertions and auditor attestation. With Certus, you can efficiently distribute and manage responsibility for SOX compliance activities throughout the organization, ensuring on-time, accurate financial reporting at a lower cost. Furthermore, you can leverage your investment to manage other compliance programs such as Basel II, Turnbull, and 8th Directive.

Design and document internal controls
With Certus the design and documentation of an internal controls structure is quick, consistent, and cost-effective. Certus enables the rapid import of all existing documentation including policies, procedures and controls, plus pre-existing control frameworks. With Certus, you can use your preferred control framework, process structure and organizational model. For new documentation, Certus helps you manage the document submission, review and approval process, audit and track changes over time, and archive older versions of the document as evidence for future retrieval.

Evaluate operational effectiveness
When conducting tests, control owners can use Certus to refer to all the documentation relevant to that control. Certus manages the communication with all compliance stakeholders, enables the quick surveying of process owners and other users, and tracks all results in a single integrated database.

Identify weaknesses and kick off remediation efforts
With Certus, users can raise issues (surrounding the design or operational effectiveness of a control) and assign activities related to those issues. The assigned activities are then tracked to their completion—ensuring smooth resolution.

Monitor activities and communicate readiness to management
Certus provides a large collection of prepackaged reports and dashboards that give complete and timely visibility into the entire compliance effort. Status reports identify areas where additional effort or focus are needed, while trend reports enable the team to gauge its efforts relative to past activity. Users can easily drill down to summary reports.

Collect assertions and certifications of controls
Certus 302 includes procedures and surveys for helping process owners assess, review, and warrant the strength of the internal controls. These procedures in turn roll up to senior management who can review data in Certus and certify the overall assessments as per regulation.

Prepare for outside auditors’ review
Certus keeps auditors cost-effective by making access and retrieval to control documentation instantaneous, and by supporting auditor walkthroughs with an efficient mechanism to view, capture and publish evidence related to a walkthrough.


Certus easily adapts to your unique business requirements
Certus is based on open standards and leverages your current technology investment. Highly adaptable and easy to deploy, the software can be configured quickly so it quickly accelerates your compliance program.

Works with tools you know
Based on a sophisticated J2EE architecture and scalable software design, Certus 404 and Certus 302 minimize the cost of sustainable compliance with a best-of-breed architecture that facilitates all aspects of the project’s lifecycle. Certus integrates with web services, MS Outlook®, Office®, LDAP, and Business Objects Crystal Reports®. A robust security mechanism protects all compliance-related information and ensures that users have access only to the information to which they are authorized.

Customize the system without IT resources
Certus was designed to be highly configurable so that you can tailor the system to fit your business’ unique approach to compliance, terminology, and other needs. You can customize and use the supplied COSO framework or plug in your own. And your system administrator—not your IT department—can customize many of the screens and field labels and add user-defined fields to many of the screens.

Supports robust role-based security model
Common security and an integrated data store ensure consistent secure storage of all compliance related information. You can set up any level of access to different types of compliance data, i.e. policies, procedures, controls and tests to ensure that just the right people can view and change the data. And that the right people have access to summary reports, dashboards, and other sensitive information.

Get up and running quickly
The Certus Professional Services Organization is ready to:

Work with your IT organization on physically installing and tuning the software.
Work with your governance team to set up the system to fit your unique business needs.
Assist in importing documentation and other information into the system.
Train your process owners, administrators, and executives on using the system.
With numerous large and small implementation projects completed, Certus brings to your organization its proven experience and best practices that assure a smooth and productive start to your sustainable compliance program.

Apply best practices across the enterprise
Certus enables you to leverage your 404 compliance effort to support good governance and add value across your organization. Certus is designed to serve as your standard platform for all governance and regulatory compliance activities, enabling your organization to:

Record and track governance-related regulations and your company’s related policies.
Capture processes and controls in place to ensure regulatory compliance.
Coordinate governance-related communication within and outside your organization.
Manage and report on all compliance related activities.
When you manage compliance efforts with a common methodology, you get cross-visibility to many of your operational processes. You can combine overlapping processes and apply best practices across an entire enterprise.

Use multiple compliance frameworks
With time, the scope of your internal controls effort is likely to increase. As your organization extends coverage in challenging areas such as IT controls or risks related to outsourced services, you will need a compliance platform that can extend easily to cover multiple frameworks and many different approaches. Mergers and acquisitions or a potential change to your external auditor firm are additional reasons why your compliance framework needs to be easily extensible and adaptable. Certus has been deployed by clients working with each of the Big 4 auditor firms as well as other auditor firms. The product supports every major auditor’s approach with templates and services that make migration of that vendor’s framework into Certus easy. Certus also supports other control frameworks such as COBIT for IT controls, or country specific-regulations on financial controls such as CoCo for Canada or Turnbull for the UK.

Approva

Approva company blurb

Approva® Corporation is the industry-leading provider of continuous controls monitoring and audit software. We enable business, finance, IT and audit professionals to automate the on-demand testing, closed-loop remediation and continuous, exception-based monitoring of controls within and across their business systems. Using our solutions, customers are able to significantly increase visibility into their controls, streamline the audit process, cost-effectively sustain their compliance initiatives and reduce exposure to mistakes, fraud and inefficiencies for business processes such as procurement, sales and delivery, payroll and financial close. In addition, our automated solutions act as key preventative and detective controls, further strengthening our customers' financial and operational control environments. Global companies such as Campbell Soup Company, Colgate-Palmolive, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, DirecTV, Discovery Communications, McCormick & Company, P&G, Pratt & Whitney, Siemens and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts rely on Approva BizRights® Platform and Enterprise Controls Suite to reduce compliance risk, increase operational efficiency and flag exceptions to their business controls. For more information, visit www.approva.net.

CASA

What DMH Solutions says about CASA.

CASA is a bottom up intranet/internet control self assessment software. CASA allows any number of controls to be set up and structured to allow any organization to perform regular control reviews. CASA can help you to identify problem areas and can automatically generate action plans to help users correct any identified shortcomings. CASA can provide a structure and mechanism for the regular evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures as required by s302 and s404 and can help to deliver real savings in operating costs.

Immediate reporting at any level
Elimination of the paper chase
Immediate updating of controls & consistent application company-wide

Detail
CASA (Continuous Audit by Self-Assessment) is a web-based tool to enable people within a company to confirm that controls and procedures and policies are being followed or complied with. CASA is essentially a questionnaire but it is also highly specified to ensure that the questions produce valuable answers that can be acted upon. CASA is also intended to help users, not just get information from them. It is designed to do this by giving users access to online procedures or best practice. By giving users their overall scores immediately and action plans for any improvements required, and by aggregating scores throughout an organization, the tool supports efforts to comply with corporate governance best practice. It also involves users in a positive way by giving the link between controls and procedures manuals, by facilitating training on these procedures and by giving a means of feeding back issues or comments on the operation to the centre.

Typical areas of usage include Risk Assessment, Health and Safety, Financial Compliance, Legal Compliance, Cleaning, Trading Standards, Human Resource, Cash Control, Training, New Issues and Self Audit.

CASA has already been used by early compliers with section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. The tool is economical and easy to embed. The major reason why controls are not performed in an organization is because operators do not know how to perform them; CASA provides the support for clarifying what the operator is meant to be doing in terms of performing a control and why they are doing it.

CASA is tried and tested and has been used in large organizations since 2001 to control numerous processes with variable scoring periods, ranging from a couple of days to a year. Its aim of being 'simple to use' means that any one from the Chief Executive to a shop floor colleague can pick it up quickly and management reporting is also just a few clicks away

It's normally 'three clicks and you're' there with CASA.

At user level

Enables them to validate themselves
Answers simple to complex questions
Allows them to score themselves simply
Provides relevant feedback
Provides action plans
Monitors action plans
Allows historical review

At Home Office it allows...

Reviews of site scores
Review of non-scoring sites
Review of current scored position
Consolidation of feedback
Review of Action plans
Independent review scoring
Reporting of overall trends
Clickable drill down graphs
Follow up on individual action plans
Worst 10 controls and site review
Definition of sites to be audited based on received results
Instant content control set-up
Administrator control of content and user access

ACL Overview

Vancouver-based ACL Services is a vendor of "Business Assurance Analytics" and "data analysis software".

The company's claim is organizations can have confidence in the accuracy and integrity of underlying transactions of complex business decisions and in the effectiveness of internal controls. Essentially using ACL software, companies can comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Products are split in two groups, Data Analysis Technology and Continuous Controls Monitoring.

Data analysis tools are:-

-- ACL Desktop/Network
-- Direct Link for SAP ERP
-- ACL Server Editions

Controls Monitoring Tools are:-

-- General Ledger

-- Order-to-cash

-- Payroll

-- Payment Cards

-- Purchase to payment

-- Travel & Entertainment



Like a lot of vendors ACL cross references its products against "solutions"

In ACLs case these are

-- Audit
-- Controls Compliance
-- Regulatory Compliance (Sarbanes-Oxley)
-- Fraud Detection
-- Data Quality
-- Industries (Banking & Finance
Business Services
Education
Government
Healthcare
Insurance
Manufacturing
Retail
Utilities & Communications

In a crowded marketplace, ACLs competitors include OpenPages, Applimation and Approva. Microsoft and Oracle are also building regulatory libraries into their products.

Keane Q1 Results and Stock Options

Keane, a business process and information technology (IT) services firm has announced it 2007 Q1 results. The figures are preliminary pending and investigation by a special committee of its stock option processes.

Keane's revenues for the First Quarter of 2007 were $232.8 million, above the Company's previous guidance as compared to revenues of $243.6 million in the First Quarter of 2006. Net income for the First Quarter of 2007 was $8.6 million, compared to net income of $5.4 million in the First Quarter of 2006. Results for the First Quarter of 2006 included a $1.3 million restructuring charge. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the First Quarter of 2007 was $.14, above the Company's previous guidance as compared to EPS of $.09 for the same period last year.

Keanes statement on the issue of stock options:- "the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has contacted the Company requesting documents related to the Company's stock option grants and stock option practices. The Company's board of directors has appointed a special committee of disinterested directors to initiate an inquiry into its stock option grants and stock option practices. The special committee has retained independent legal counsel to assist in this inquiry."

LCC International Parts with Auditor

LCC International, Inc. (NASDAQ: LCCI) is to part company with its auditor KPMG LLP, on completion of its work on auditing internal controls over financial reporting (Essentially Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) and general auditing for 2006.

The company's Form 10-K is still outstanding. LCC "does not expect that it will have a new auditor in place in time to complete the tasks necessary to file its Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2007 by the prescribed date."

In a filing to the SEC, LCC states there have been no disagreements over accounting principles or financial statement disclosure.

Sybase and BlackBerry

Sybase 365(TM), a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE:SY) , has launched the AvantGo(R) client for BlackBerry(R) smart phones, from Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM) . BlackBerry users can now access updated, customized content from mobile Web sites anytime and anywhere - in either an online or offline mode -- in a format that is optimized for BlackBerry smart phones.

AvantGo for BlackBerry caches content locally, providing enhanced navigation, faster browsing and dual online and offline availability. Additionally, AvantGo utilizes its patented advanced sync technology, which automatically updates pages on the device giving the user access to the latest news and information around the clock.

AvantGo provides media content partners and advertisers with a turnkey, ad-funded mobile distribution solution without the cost of building an initial mobile audience or advertiser network, and provides advertisers with reach into a highly desirable mobile audience. As a result, hundreds of major brands use AvantGo, which in turn provides mobile users access to both quantity and quality of content.

AvantGo for BlackBerry is available immediately and is free for end-users. BlackBerry users can access and download the client through the BlackBerry browser at www.avantgo.com.

IDS Scheer

Publicity blurb

The software and consulting company IDS Scheer develops Business Process Management solutions for corporations and public authorities. With its ARIS Platform for Process Excellence, the company offers an integrated and complete tool portfolio for strategy, design, implementation and controlling of business processes. Thanks to the integrated approach of ARIS Value Engineering (AVE), IDS Scheer consultants build bridges between corporate strategy, business processes, IT solutions and the controlling of running processes in their customers’ organizations. IDS Scheer was founded in 1984 by Prof. August-Wilhelm Scheer and now serves about 6,000 customers in over 70 countries through a network of its own branch offices and partners. In 2006, the company earned revenues of about 354 million Euro. About 2800 people are working for IDS Scheer worldwide. The company is listed in the TecDAX on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Germany).