SA companies should not ignore global governance legislation
While many local companies think that corporate governance legislation, such as the USÂ’ Sarbanes-Oxley Act, will not have an impact on their operations, an ITWeb report warns, that the tentacles of this and other legislation will become commonplace the world over.
Following major corporate scandals, US legislators rushed new legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley into effect, to make it harder for corporates to hide irregularities. While this only applies to listed American companies reporting revenues of $75m and above, similar legislation is in place or is on the way in other countries and can be expected in SA in due course. When this happens companies will need to implement stringent internal controls to ensure they deliver as required. One area that will be affected will be electronic record management. Document retention, both electronic and physical, will become a crucial form of compliance for companies. Thus, forward-thinking companies would do well to examine the best practices being established globally to ensure ease of compliance in the future. Full ITWeb report