Deeper understanding of the requirements behind SOX 302, the meaning of the certifications required from management and an analysis of processes continually re-evaluated for improvement.
To re-establish investor confidence, the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation made executive certifications of financial statements S a permanent requirement for all publicly traded companies in the U.S. In doing so, they introduced a newly defined term “disclosure controls and procedures”. This expanded the concept of Internal Controls over Financial Reporting.
SOX Section 302 became effective August 29, 2002. It stated: “The executive certification requirement applies to companies filing quarterly/ annual reports with the SEC under Section 13(a) or 15 (d) of 1934 Exchange Act.” Since the implementation date for SOX 302 was well before SOX 404, many questions surfaced regarding the adequacy of procedures established. In addition, many companies have not significantly revisited their procedures since initially establishing them.
SOX 302 certification requirements are essential to proper financial reporting. All personnel should have a strong understanding of the requirements and their obligations related to SOX 302. This course is designed to provide a deeper understanding of the requirements behind SOX 302, the meaning of the certifications required from management and analysis of processes that should be continually re-evaluated for improvement.
Note: Information within this course comes from readily available public domain documents and is utilized by the trainer as a supplement for relaying the course content.
Field of Study: Auditing
Lynn Fountain has over 45 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 24 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Ms. Fountain has held two Chief Audit Executive positions for international companies. In 2011, as the Chief Audit Executive for an international construction/ engineering firm, she was involved in the active investigation of a joint venture fraud. The investigation included work with the FBI and ultimately led to indictment of the perpetrators and recovery of $13M. Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own training and consulting business and is a regular trainer for the AICPA. Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations” was published by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation. -“Leading The Internal Audit Function” and -“Ethics and The Internal Auditor Political Dilemma” were published by Taylor & Francis In addition Ms. Fountain was a contributing author to the certification program exam for the National Association of Accountants. She also has certificate programs on various on-line platforms. Ms. Fountain has performed as an adjunct instructor for the School of Business for Grantham University and developed the first internal audit curriculum for the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CGMA, CRMA credentials and CPA certificate (non-active).
Provincial regulators of CPAs in Canada do not require that independent providers of CPD be approved to offer courses. Instead, individual CPAs are responsible for assessing whether a CPD activity meets their requirements, and may take activities from any source provided those requirements are met.
Every course offered on LearnFormula is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, and advances learning objectives that are relevant to the responsibilities or professional competencies of Canadian CPAs. All activities on LearnFormula are quantifiable in terms of hours, and are also verifiable, in that users receive documented evidence of their attendance via a certificate of completion after finishing a course (and this certificate is stored by LearnFormula indefinitely). Nearly 100,000 Canadian CPAs successfully satisfy their CPD requirements via LearnFormula on an annual basis.
