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Investors in the country's publicly traded companies will shortly have access to an unprecedented level of corporate information when companies issue their annual reports, which, for the first time actually, will include details about their central get a handle on over financial reporting and provide a better amount of transparency.

To greatly help investors comprehend the brand new reporting, Touche & Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG allow us two easy-to-use reference books.

When a company measures its internal get a grip on over financial reporting, it monitors the vital processes involved with recording transactions and preparing financial reports. An organization now should make public its examination of the potency of its central control over financial reporting, including a direct statement concerning whether that control is beneficial and whether management has identified any "material weakness."

The business's independent auditor may examine management's assessment and express a viewpoint on that assessment. This information is always to come in corporate annual reports starting in February 2005.

These new disclosures were put in place by the federal government in reaction to the number of business failures and corporate scandals that began with Enron in 2001. The reports are important to people because effective central get a handle on over financial reporting helps enhance the reliability of financial accounts and can be quite a deterrent to corporate fraud.

To utilize these details effectively, people should consider that a weakness in internal control over financial reporting doesn't suggest that a financial misstatement has happened or will occur, but that it may occur. It is a warning flag.

A material weakness must be assessed in the context of the company's unique situation, including consideration of the following parts.

• Fraud: Does the weakness contain corporate fraud by senior management?

• Duration: Was the weakness the result of a temporary breakdown or perhaps a more systemic problem?

• Pervasiveness: Does the weakness relate to things that could have a persistent impact on financial reporting?

• Relevance: Is the weakness related to a process that's key to the company?

• Investigation: May be the weakness linked to a current regulatory analysis or litigation?

• History: Does the business have a brief history of restatements?

• Management reaction: How has management responded to the material weakness?

• Tone at the top: Does the weakness represent an issue with the "tone at the top?"

Material flaws can occur in virtually any part of the financial reporting process, and may vary with a company's characteristics, the market and the company environment. The newest reports don't address the soundness of a company's business strategies or its ability to achieve economic goals. www.s-oxinternalcontrolinfo.com.- NU types of fraud