SOX News

GL Associates Fulfills the Desire of Financial Managers

(Oct 23, 2007)-- Many Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) acknowledge that one of the common obstacles to improving business processes is the chart of accounts (COA) coding structure, which companies usually outgrow over time. However these same CFOs seldom desire to sponsor a comprehensive redesign and conversion initiative, because of the inevitable business challenges, never-ending resource requirements, and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance for such a project. So although many CFOs readily accept that a new COA is needed, these intimidation factors delay their decision to undergo the COA remediation that is best for their businesses.

Over the past twenty-seven years, more and more clients are turning to GL Associates to help them address the anxieties surrounding these exact challenges. Providing COA redesign and conversion services for companies of varying sizes in many different industries, GL Associates' experience has culminated in a standardized methodology that incorporates industry best practices and automates the conversion process.
GL Associates starts the redesign process with rigorous due diligence to ensure that the new COA is aligned with the company's fundamental business processes. Upon completion, the resulting new COA will have
approximately half the number of records of the original COA. Additional information on this process is available in the GL Associates whitepaper,"Optimizing Chart of Accounts - Financial Reporting Made Easy."

For the challenging task of converting all data to conform to the new COA, GL Associates designed its Data Conversion System (DCS), which automates and optimizes the COA conversion and provides an audit trail. DCS allows for higher levels of productivity, SOX compliance, and rapid execution without business disruptions - reducing by approximately 50% the time to convert, user involvement, and IT resources. Details on DCS are available in the GLA Associates whitepaper, "Removing the Intimidation Factor from Chart of Accounts Redesign and Conversion."

GL Associates is an ideal resource to help companies optimize major COA conversions in business environments with broad ranges of scope and complexity. Their services require no downtime in business operations, and the process incorporates a proven change management procedure to ensure SOX compliance.

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