Employee morale -- and not cost -- may be the biggest threat to
Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, according to a recent survey. Nearly 100
financial executives responding to the survey said the biggest
issue related to SOX is the need to maintain the morale of the
employees responsible for compliance -- an that plays well into PR
efforts in-house.
"If this is not a job for internal communications, I don't know
what is: when 46% of the financial executives surveyed name
'maintaining the morale of employees responsible for compliance' as
the greatest possible roadblock to sustaining SOX compliance," says
Mike Neumeier, managing partner for the Atlanta-based PR firm
Gaughan & Swann who helped put the study together on
behalf of neighboring Oversight Systems, which provides
business-services software.
He adds: "PR execs in public companies should pick up their
phones right now and request meetings with their CFOs to see if
this is a concern in their company."
Yet despite the significant costs -- and that it may be a downer
for those folks toiling with compliance -- most financial
executives say SOX compliance has led to such bottom-line benefits
as reduced risk of fraud and errors, and more efficient financial
operations. The full survey is available as a free download at
http://www.oversightsystems.com/survey.html.
Contact: Mike Neumeier, 404.451.7832, [email protected]