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National LiquidatorsSarbanes-OxleyThe Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 can be known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002. Sarbanes-Oxley Act is commonly called SOX or Sarbox. SOX is a United States federal law enacted in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom. These scandals, which cost investors billions of dollars when the share prices of the affected companies collapsed, shook public confidence in the nation's securities markets. Sarbanes-Oxley is named after sponsors Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael G. Oxley. Auditor conflicts of interest: Prior to SOX, auditing firms, the primary financial "watchdogs" for investors, also performed significant non-audit or consulting work for the companies they audited. Many of these consulting agreements were far more lucrative than the auditing engagement. This presented at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. For example, challenging the company's accounting approach might damage a client relationship, conceivably placing a significant consulting arrangement at risk, damaging the auditing firm's bottom line.Software as a ServiceSoftware as a Service is a model of software deployment where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the Internet. By eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer's own computer, SaaS alleviates the customer's burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation, and support. Conversely, customers relinquish control over software versions or changing requirements; moreover, costs to use the service become a continuous expense, rather than a single expense at time of purchase. Using SaaS also can conceivably reduce that up-front expense of software purchases, through less costly, on-demand pricing. SaaS lets software vendors control and limit use, prohibits copies and distribution, and control all derivative versions of their software. This centralized control often allows the vendor to establish an ongoing revenue stream. The SaaS software vendor may host the application on its own web server, or this function may be handled by a third-party application service provider (ASP). This way, end users may reduce their investment on server hardware too.Solar EnergySolar energy refers to the utilization of the radiant energy from the Sun. Solar power is used interchangeably with solar energy, but refers more specifically to the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either by photovoltaics and concentrating solar thermal devices, or by one of several experimental technologies such as thermoelectric converters, solar chimneys or solar ponds. Solar energy and shading are important considerations in building design. Thermal mass is used to conserve the heat that sunshine delivers to all buildings. Daylighting techniques optimize the use of light in buildings. Solar water heaters heat swimming pools and provide domestic hot water. In agriculture, greenhouses expand growing seasons and pumps powered by solar cells (known as photovoltaics) provide water for grazing animals. Evaporation ponds are used to harvest salt and clean waste streams of contaminants. Solar distillation and disinfection techniques produce potable water for millions of people worldwide. Simple applications include clotheslines and solar cookers which concentrate sunlight for cooking, drying and pasteurization. More sophisticated technologies concentrate sunlight for high-temperature material testing, metal smelting and industrial chemical production. A range of experimental solar vehicles provide ground, air and sea transportation.Solar Hot WaterSolar hot water systems use sunlight to heat water. In low geographical latitudes (below 40 degrees) from 60 to 70% of the domestic hot water use with temperatures up to 60 °C can be provided by solar heating systems. The most common types of solar water heaters are evacuated tube collectors and glazed flat plate collectors (34%) generally used for domestic hot water; and unglazed plastic collectors (21%) used mainly to heat swimming pools. As of 2007, the total installed capacity of solar hot water systems is approximately 154 GW. China is the world leader in their deployment with 70 GW installed as of 2006 and a long term goal of 210 GW by 2020. Israel is the per capita leader in the use of solar hot water systems with 90% of homes using them. In the United States, Canada and Australia heating swimming pools is the dominant application of solar hot water with an installed capacity of 18 GW as of 2005.Solar Power PoolIn the United States heating swimming pools is the dominant application of solar hot water. The Solar powered pool is another way to go green. Solar power hot water systems use sunlight to heat water for swimming pools. A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is an artificially enclosed body of water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest and deepest is the Olympic size. A pool can be built either above or in the ground, and from materials such as metal, plastic or concrete. Pools that may be used by many people or by the general public are called public, while pools used exclusively by a few people or in a home are called private. Many health clubs, fitness centers and private clubs have public pools used mostly for exercise. Many hotels and massage parlors have public pools for relaxation. Hot tubs and spas are pools with hot water, used for relaxation or therapy, and are common in homes, hotels, clubs and massage parlors. Swimming pools are also used for diving, other sports, and training of lifeguards and astronauts. Pools must be sanitized to prevent growth and spread of bacteria, viruses, algae and insect larvae that can cause disease. This is done by using filters and chemical disinfectants such as chlorine, bromine or mineral sanitizers.Solar PowerSolar power is utilization of the radiant energy from the Sun. Either by photovoltaics and concentrating solar thermal devices, or by one of several experimental technologies such as thermoelectric converters, solar chimneys or solar ponds. Solar power and shading are important considerations in building design. Thermal mass is used to conserve the heat that sunshine delivers to all buildings. Daylighting techniques optimize the use of light in buildings. Solar power water heaters heat swimming pools and provide domestic hot water. In agriculture, greenhouses expand growing seasons and pumps powered by solar cells (known as photovoltaics) provide water for grazing animals. Evaporation ponds are used to harvest salt and clean waste streams of contaminants.SOX and information technologyThe financial reporting processes of many companies depend to some extent on IT systems. Therefore, Information technology controls that specifically address financial risks may be within the scope of a SOX 404 assessment. Chief information officers are typically responsible for the IT organization and IT personnel may be directly involved in SOX compliance efforts. The SOX 404 guidance requires the usage of an internal control framework, such as the COSO framework. The IT Governance Institute's "COBIT: Control Objectives of Information and Related Technology" is also used by many companies as a framework supporting IT SOX 404 efforts. However, there are certain aspects of COBIT that are outside the boundaries of Sarbanes-Oxley regulation. IT application controls (i.e., transaction processing controls) that address specific material misstatement risks are a critical part of the SOX 404 assessment. However, the extent of SOX testing to perform related to IT General Controls (ITGC) has been a topic of contention.[23] By its nature, ITGC has an indirect effect on financial statements. The 2007 SEC guidance states: "...management only needs to evaluate those ITGC that are necessary for the proper and consistent operation of other controls designed to adequately address financial reporting risks." ITGC efforts will likely be carefully scrutinized in light of the new guidance, which encourages focus on the most critical financial risks.SOX Section 302: Internal control certificationsUnder Sarbanes-Oxley, two separate certification sections came into effect—one civil and the other criminal. 15 U.S.C. § 7241 (Section 302) (civil provision); 18 U.S.C. § 1350 (Section 906) (criminal provision). Section 302 of the Act mandates a set of internal procedures designed to ensure accurate financial disclosure. The signing officers must certify that they are “responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls” and “have designed such internal controls to ensure that material information relating to the company and its consolidated subsidiaries is made known to such officers by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which the periodic reports are being prepared.” 15 U.S.C. § 7241(a)(4). The officers must “have evaluated the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls as of a date within 90 days prior to the report” and “have presented in the report their conclusions about the effectiveness of their internal controls based on their evaluation as of that date.” Id.. Under both Section 302 and Section 404, Congress directed the SEC to promulgate regulations enforcing these provisions. (See Final Rule: Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting and Certification of Disclosure in Exchange Act Periodic Reports, Release No. 33-8238 (June 5,2003), available at http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/33-8238.htm.) External auditors are required to issue an opinion on whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects by management. This is in addition to the financial statement opinion regarding the accuracy of the financial statements. The requirement to issue a third opinion regarding management's assessment was removed in 2007.SOX Section 404: Assessment of internal controlThe most contentious aspect of SOX is Section 404, which requires management and the external auditor to report on the adequacy of the company's internal control over financial reporting (ICFR). This is the most costly aspect of the legislation for companies to implement, as documenting and testing important financial manual and automated controls requires enormous effort. Under Section 404 of the Act, management is required to produce an “internal control report” as part of each annual Exchange Act report. See 15 U.S.C. § 7262. The report must affirm “the responsibility of management for establishing and maintaining an adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting.” 15 U.S.C. § 7262(a). The report must also “contain an assessment, as of the end of the most recent fiscal year of the Company, of the effectiveness of the internal control structure and procedures of the issuer for financial reporting.” To do this, managers are generally adopting an internal control framework such as that described in COSO. Both management and the external auditor are responsible for performing their assessment in the context of a top-down risk assessment, which requires management to base both the scope of its assessment and evidence gathered on risk. In late 2006 a new audit standard was proposed by the PCAOB to help alleviate the significant costs of compliance and better focus the assessment on the most critical risk areas. On July 25, 2007, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) approved Auditing Standard No. 5 [18] (AS5), which superseded Auditing Standard No 2. (AS2), and has the following key requirements for the external auditor: Assess both the design and operating effectiveness of selected internal controls related to significant accounts and relevant assertions, in the context of material misstatement risks; Understand the flow of transactions, including IT aspects, sufficient enough to identify points at which a misstatement could arise; Evaluate company-level (entity-level) controls, which correspond to the components of the COSO framework; Perform a fraud risk assessment; Evaluate controls designed to prevent or detect fraud, including management override of controls; Evaluate controls over the period-end financial reporting process; Scale the assessment based on the size and complexity of the company; Rely on management's work based on factors such as competency, objectivity, and risk; The auditor is allowed to rely on knowledge from prior audits; Evaluate controls over the safeguarding of assets; and Conclude on the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting. The recently released SEC guidance [19] is generally consistent with the PCAOB's guidance above, only intended for management. After the release of this guidance, the SEC required smaller public companies to comply with SOX Section 404, companies with year ends after December 15, 2007. Smaller public companies performing their first management assessment under Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 may find their first year of compliance after December 15, 2007 particularly challenging.SOX Section 802 Criminal PenaltiesSection 802(a) of the SOX, 18 U.S.C. § 1519 states: “ Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.Sun SystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. is an American vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information technology services. Sun systems is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Sun is located in part of Silicon Valley. Sun Systems is on the former west campus of the Agnews Developmental Center. Sun Microsystems Products include computer servers and workstations based on its own SPARC processors as well as AMD's Opteron and Intel's Xeon processors; storage systems; and, a suite of software products including the Solaris Operating System, developer tools, Web infrastructure software, and identity management applications. Other technologies of note include the Java platform and NFS. Sun is a proponent of open systems in general and UNIX in particular and a major contributor of open source software. |
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