At Trintech, we understand the importance and time commitment of remaining compliant with all applicable financial regulations. We also know that even after nearly two decades of SOX compliance, many organizations still struggle to adapt to frequent regulatory updates. Indeed, CFO.com recently published an interesting perspective on how the costs and difficulty level of complying with these regulations continue to rise for many companies.

According to a Protiviti report, companies are simply not prepared to adapt to these changes. Recent economic shifts have caused an increase in mergers and acquisitions along with a keen focus on implementing significant cost-cutting measures. Still, these steps have barely compensated for compliance costs that, on the average, have not changed year over year.

“More than ever, SOX compliance costs appear to hinge on an organization’s unique circumstances and structure,” the report states, “including but not limited to its number of controls…” To mitigate this issue, companies should aim to automate this process, which allows for integrated organization and management of various compliance initiatives throughout the financial close, quickly reducing the high cost of regulatory adherence.

Protiviti continues, “Companies likely could mitigate their costs through greater use of automated tools,” but unfortunately, “…only 28% of the survey participants use technology tools in the testing of controls to comply with SOX…”As mentioned in a previous article published by Trintech, “4 Steps to Managing Corporate Financial Risk with Automation”, organizational decision-makers must be prepared to establish a comprehensive risk management strategy — regulatory compliance being the most public of risks.

Automation is a readily-available solution to these problems, but companies just aren’t taking advantage of it nearly enough. As the data states, there is a strong need for forward-thinking, technology-adept companies who are willing to undergo a financial transformation.

To learn more, click on the banner below to see how you can reduce the risks and costs of remaining compliant with a comprehensive automated R2R solution.

To read the CFO.com article in full, please click here.

Written by: Chelsea Downey