When the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in 2002, publicly held companies were required to put a structure around their internal controls over financial reporting. The Integrated Controls Framework that had been created and issued in 1992 by The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) became a standard framework of internal controls.
On December 19th, COSO issued an update on their Framework for public review and comment. The update is intended to help organizations better perform in the current environment. Per COSO, “Enhancements to the Framework are not intended to alter the core principles first developed in 1992, but rather facilitate more robust discussion of internal control.”
For those of you involved in risk management, compliance, internal controls, financial reporting or any other aspect of Governance, Risk and Compliance within your organization, take the time to review the new draft and offer your perspectives – and you can influence the next generation of internal controls.
This draft is open for comment until March 31, 2012.