(b) The Sarbanes－Oxley Act contains provisions for the attestation (verification) and repo

Question

(b) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act contains provisions for the attestation (verification) and reporting to shareholders of

internal controls over financial reporting.

Required:

Describe the typical contents of an external report on internal controls. (8 marks)

Answer 1

正确答案：
(b) Internal control statement
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidelines are to disclose in the annual report as follows:
A statement of management’s responsibility for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting
for the company. This will always include the nature and extent of involvement by the chairman and chief executive, but may
also specify the other members of the board involved in the internal controls over financial reporting. The purpose is for
shareholders to be clear about who is accountable for the controls.
A statement identifying the framework used by management to evaluate the effectiveness of this internal control. This will
usually involve a description of the key metrics, measurement methods (e.g. rates of compliance, fair value measures, etc)
and tolerances allowed within these. Within a rules-based environment, these are likely to be underpinned by law.
Management’s assessment of the effectiveness of this internal control as at the end of the company’s most recent fiscal year.
This may involve reporting on rates of compliance, failures, costs, resources committed and outputs (if measurable) achieved.
A statement that its auditor has issued an attestation report on management’s assessment. Any qualification to the attestation
should be reported in this statement.
Tutorial note: guidance from other corporate governance codes is also acceptable.