Scholar Joins Study of SOX Section 404
Two market research companies have selected George Aldhizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers Faculty Fellow and associate professor of accounting at Wake Forest University's Calloway School of Business and Accountancy, to assist in a cost-benefit study of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
The Henne Group and QSA Integrated Research Solutions will survey thousands of public companies subject to the regulations and analyze and interpret the data collected. The final report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to be ready in late spring 2009.
Section 404 was intended to help ensure that public companies provide investors and creditors with more reliable financial reporting by requiring the documentation and testing of various internal controls. The national study is the first funded by the SEC's Office of Economic Analysis to collect and analyze the "real world" costs and benefits of Section 404 compliance.
Aldhizer said, "Our findings should help the government reduce unnecessary costs while preserving investor confidence in published financial information."
Aldhizer is a licensed certified public accountant, certified internal auditor, and certified fraud examiner. He has written numerous articles for financial and accounting publications and co-authored "Adapting Six Sigma to Help Tame the SOX Compliance Beast," published March 2007 in Strategic Finance.
"We chose Dr. Aldhizer because of the pertinent articles that he had written," said Becky Quarles, president of QSA Integrated Research Solutions. "We asked him to write the 'background and objectives' section of the proposal. His work was superb, and both his work and his reputation contributed to our winning the proposal. We are very pleased to have George on our team for this important study."
The Henne Group and QSA Integrated Research Solutions specialize in the design and execution of Internet-based surveys. The Henne Group is based in San Francisco and maintains an office in New York City. QSA Research is based in Alexandria, Va.