When Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) was passed in 2002, it created a whole new wave of compliance issues for large enterprises and publicly traded companies. Over the years, the regulations have changed, but the underlying requirements of the bill remain intact. For organizations that use fax as a primary method of communication and document transmission, SOX should be a concern on their mind when choosing and using enterprise fax software.
The Basics of Sarbanes Oxley
The primary purpose of Sarbanes Oxley is to hold financial organizations accountable for the security and accuracy of communication, documents (including faxes), and other correspondence.
Read the full text of Sarbanes Oxley.
Using RightFax and Integrations to Maintain Compliance
Since RightFax can integrate with most major ERP systems, and acts as a secure method of communication, it is the ideal companion software and fax server for financial institutions. It can be a major tool enterprises use to maintain compliance alongside their ERP, which acts as a centralized hub for all documents and data. This helps maintain compliance with one of the major sections of Sarbanes Oxley that organizations struggle with, Section 302: Corporate Responsibility for Financial Reports, which outlines how executives are to be held responsible for the accuracy and security of financial reporting. When all documents are kept in a single, centralized location, it is easy for a CEO or CFO to retrieve and store a copy of all the information they are required to personally ensure both accurate and kept safe.
What happens when these documents need to be sent across an organization, to a different branch, or to another organization, client, etc.? When this needs to be done, organizations need to do two things to maintain compliance with Sarbanes Oxley:
- Ensure the document is safely transferred to a fax machine
- Ensure the document is safely sent via fax to the intended recipient
RightFax’s ability to integrate with most major ERPs accomplished both of these things. Using RightFax, organizations can:
- Automate the transfer of documents from an ERP system to the RightFax server. This eliminates the handling of paper documents.
- Automate the sending of documents to intended recipients only. This prevents information from being sent to unauthorized persons.
- Improve document tracking and have a specific audit trail when information moves from the ERP to RightFax and on to the final recipient.
- Streamline document storage and delivery to cut back on errors and inefficient practices that waste time and money, and increase the chances of accidental breaches of SOX.
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