Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Within Irish I.T. Departments: Milestone or Millstone?

Abstract

In 2002 after the failure of a number of entities such as Enron, Worldcom etc., the United States Legislature enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This was intended to protect investors by combating fraud, improving the reliability of financial reporting and restoring investor confidence. This Thesis examines the effects of this legislation as experienced by six Irish IT Departments. The research involved a bimodal approach involving an initial survey of the respondents, followed by a semi-structured interview with each respondent, to clarify and elaborate on responses. The research identifies the methodologies employed and the frameworks adopted and concludes with a number of recommendations. The key recommendation relates to the imperative to integrate the various compliance and governance systems in use by IT Departments. Finally the research identifies the paradox that the effect of Sarbanes-Oxley is both a millstone (albeit in a temporary time-frame) and a milestone in the terms of the evolution and improvement of IT Governance in IT Departments.