When I first entered the workforce two decades ago, it wasn’t uncommon for financial analysts to be asked to cut large checks needing to be mailed immediately, without much explanation about what they were for and why they were so urgent.
That kind of money movement is pretty much unthinkable in a modern Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance regime. One of the most enduring changes of the law, which turns 20 this year, was to systematize business processes and authorizations, so you can’t have a 22-year-old write a check for $50,000 simply because a manager told him it was urgent.
Businesses now rely on software to track and manage internal spending. Some companies — particularly in healthcare and Silicon Valley — have been adopters of this technology, and their approach to internal controls has benefited as a result.
