To re-establish investor confidence, the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation made executive certifications of financial statements a permanent requirement for all publicly traded companies in the U.S. In doing so, they introduced a newly defined term “disclosure controls and procedures.” This expanded the concept of Internal Controls over Financial Reporting.

SOX Section 302 became effective August 29, 2002. It stated:

“The executive certification requirement applies to companies filing quarterly/ annual reports with the SEC under Section 13(a) or 15 (d) of 1934 Exchange Act.”  Since the implementation date for SOX 302 was well before SOX 404, many questions surfaced regarding the adequacy of procedures established. In addition, many companies have not significantly revisited their procedures since initially establishing them.

SOX 302 certification requirements are essential to proper financial reporting. All personnel should have a strong understanding of the requirements and their obligations related to SOX 302. This course is designed to provide a deeper understanding of the requirements behind SOX 302, the meaning of the certifications required from management and an analysis of processes that should be continually re-evaluated for improvement.

If you would like Continuing Education Credit (e.g. CPE, CE, CPD, etc.) for this course, it is available if you take this course on the Illumeo dot com platform under course title: Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Section 302: Internal Controls over Financial Reporting. Illumeo is certified to provide CPE in over two dozen different professional certifications covering finance, accounting, treasury, internal audit, HR, and more. However, in order to receive CPE credit the courses must be taken on an ‘approved-by-the-governing-body’ CPE platform, and for over two dozen corporate professional certifications, that is the Illumeo platform. Go to Illumeo dot com to learn more.