SOX Leads To IT Opportunities

                                                                                         

Sarbanes-Oxley has opened up a growing range of opportunities for accountants and other financial professionals with solid IT skills.

The reason? ''Information technology is often the key to compliance issues, whether we're talking about Sarbanes-Oxley or FASB requirements or whatever,'' says Rob Smith, chief executive of RiskStream, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm that handles risk, compliance and business continuity issues.


Today's finance professionals do not operate in a functional silo, limited to compiling figures and dealing with internal audit tasks. As organizations come to grips with the implications of Sarbanes-Oxley and technology becomes even more critical to the compliance end of the business, many top-level accountants are realizing the need to expand their IT skills.


That begs the question: How is an accountant, audit or risk manager able to keep up with the sweeping changes in IT and Sarbanes-Oxley regulation, as well as their traditional finance duties? Says Smith: ''Make sure you move around the organization, if an opportunity is available to you. Learn every component of the business that you can - from project management to finance to accounting and systems implementation.''


Financial professionals with the right skills set - a cross-departmental approach heavy on IT knowledge - are succeeding in a variety of newly created positions, often overseeing SOX compliance concerns for their company. ''The titles for these people are relatively new, including chief risk officer and chief information risk officer,'' Smith observes. ''In terms of a SOX team, there will always be a need for an auditor, but there will also be a need for someone to look at systems and operational components.''


Stephen Musick, principal at Musick & Associates, a strategic search firm in Durango, Colo., has seen an increase in the number of IT compliance positions available, and believes accountants or internal auditors can segue into the field with the right experience. ''Considering the requirements, many companies are holding SOX training classes and building in information on the practical applications, such as on the IT side,'' he says. ''Finance and audit personnel should always avail themselves of any in-house training.''


For auditors and accountants already steeped in IT and SOX, Musick recommends pursuing a relevant industry certification, such as the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) designation offered by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association. Such certifications, he says, make your added value clear to an employer.
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