Download free excel template for SOX Compliance Risk and Control Matrix (RACM). This is useful for SOX Compliance Managers and SOX Compliant Entities.
The 2002 Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) is a federal law that aims to increase the reliability of financial reporting and protect investors from corporate fraud. It covers publicly traded companies operating in the United States, and also some private companies, as defined in SOX sections 302 and 404. Section 404 of the SOX regulation requires organizations to implement internal controls, to ensure their financial reporting is accurate.
SOX controls, also known as SOX 404 controls, are rules that can prevent and detect errors in a company’s financial reporting process. Internal controls are used to prevent or discover problems in organizational processes, ensuring the organization achieves its goals.
Background and Use of this template
SOX controls must be applied and verified in all cycles leading to the company’s financial report or financial results. Internal auditors must conduct regular compliance audits to verify that appropriate controls are in place and that they are functioning properly. The SOX standard does not provide a list of specific controls. Instead, it requires organizations to define their own controls to meet the regulator’s goals. These could include, for example, access control, change management, segregation of duties, cybersecurity solutions, and backup systems.
To ensure transparency, all material weaknesses must be immediately reported to senior management. Sections 302 and 404 are highly relevant to this aspect of the act:
- SOX Section 302—holds the CEO and CFO responsible for reporting and all related internal controls.
- SOX Section 404—ensures finances remain transparent by requiring quarterly updates and annual disclosures, which should be provided to the SEC and relevant stakeholders.
If you want to learn more – Visit a Guide on SOX Compliance and Reporting by Pathlock.
About SOX Risk and Control Matrix Excel Template
Once you download this template, you will find the following worksheet in this template,
- Risk and Control Matrix (RACM)
- Risk Assessment Grid
- Risk Definition
- Internal Control Definition
We will discuss briefly on each worksheet to help you understand better;
Risk and Control Matrix
This sheet will have the overall deliverable or end goal of whole activity of risk assessment and risk response plan (RRP). This sheet will have details on various risks like – Risk Number, Risk identification (description), Risk Likelihood, Risk Severity, Risk Assessment (Comes from grid), Risk mitigation strategy, primary objective and Secondary objective (Management control objective) etc. Now, in terms of controls for addressing the risk will be captured in the columns like – control number, Control description, control type, Key or non key control (category), Internal Control component, and control frequency.
Risk assessment grid
This contains the risk assessment grid based on the likelihood and severity of the identified risk. Risk likelihood means the probability of risk materilization and risk severity means the impact of the risk (if it materializes). Below figures shows the grid used in this template. This is a universally standard grid.
Risk definition and Interncal control definition
These sheets helps to define all the drop downs used in the template. By default, all the definitions are in place. If you intend to make any changes we suggest you to confirm with your management team and business leaders. The business objectives and definitions in the risk management should be aligned adequately. This helps in risk management.
Download and use SOX Risk Register Excel template
To use this free excel SOX Risk Register template, you should have Microsoft Office/ Microsoft Excel installed in your system.
After installing Excel or Spreadsheet, download the zip file of this template, extract the template using WinRAR or 7Zip or WinZIP (Recommended) decompressing software.
Once extracted, you can open the file using Excel and start entering data or customizing the template.
