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PeriscopeSOX™
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Karen Higgins
A&E Communications for PeriscopeIQ
(484) 686-0262
karen.higgins8@verizon.net
PeriscopeIQ Announces Sarbanes Oxley Assessment Framework
PeriscopeSOX Assists Organizations with Sarbanes Oxley Compliance
Reducing Risk for Companies and Top Management
Philadelphia, PA and Bethlehem, PA - October 8, 2003 - (HR Technology Conference, Booth #519) - PeriscopeIQ™, a provider of web-based transformative intelligence solutions including comprehensive online survey and performance management systems (PMS), today announced PeriscopeSOX™, a COSO-consistent assessment framework designed to help senior executives and audit committees of public organizations comply with Sections 302 and 404 of the 2003 Sarbanes Oxley Act.
Section 302 of the 2003 Sarbanes Oxley Act addresses corporate responsibility for financial reports, stating that the CEO and CFO must certify that all financial statements and disclosures are valid. Section 404 requires a self-assessment of risks for business processes that affect financial reporting.
"Given the media attention over the past few years on corporate governance, financial disclosure and accounting practices, public organizations are looking for tools to ensure their compliance with the new rules and regulations," said Dr. Pawan Singh, co-founder and president of PeriscopeIQ. "Our primary business is to collect structured information from groups such as employees, customers, suppliers and investors through web-based assessments or surveys, and then convert this information into intelligence through algorithms, analysis and reports. With our expertise and innovative technology, PeriscopeSOX has been designed to provide upper management with the confidence in their company's good practices and reduce their risk of being held liable for unethical operations."
PeriscopeSOX comprises a set of anonymous assessments that are sent out to various internal groups (financial officers, controllers, audit committee members and a sampling of all employees) within an organization to determine the organization's compliance with best financial practices, ethics, laws and the company's own guidelines. The assessments address such issues as whether the organization has made significant efforts to ensure all employees are aware and understand the implications of new obligations; whether all employees are notified of the whistleblower provisions; and whether the organization encourages a culture of open communications. The results from these assessments provide a confidence index for the CEO and CFO, as well as the audit committee regarding compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley provisions.
PeriscopeIQ also offers PeriscopeSOX+™, which allows organizations to create additional value without significant additional cost. Organizations can take the same opportunity to add additional sections to their assessment to create ethics and organizational culture profiles, and to sense employee needs and concerns. PeriscopeSOX+ offering also includes Ethical Decisions Risk Audit (EDRA) assessment created by PeriscopeSOX advisory board members Drs. Bush and Andrulis of Villanova University. EDRA, inspired by the Sarbanes-Oxley act, is based on their earlier work in the ethics assessment area. PeriscopeIQ converts all the data collected into insights and reports, as well as strategic metrics through its unique online MetricsNow™ feature, in real time.
"PeriscopeSOX is an excellent tool for management and audit committees to quickly and efficiently assess their current status and identify areas requiring improvement,"
said Edward Curry, Principal, Curry and Herd, LLC, a SOX consultant. "With the SEC enforcing these specific Sarbanes Oxley requirements for publicly traded companies in 2004, there is a critical need for companies to perform their assessments now "
PeriscopeIQ has set up an advisory board focused specifically on its Sarbanes Oxley-related product offerings. The advisory board includes distinguished academic experts, executives, consultants and accounting and law professionals with experience in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Among the advisory board members are Dr. David Bush and Dr. Richard Andrulis, professors at Villanova University and originators of several ethics assessment instruments; Edward Curry, CPA, a seasoned executive with experience as a board member and audit committee member of public companies; Alan Silverstein, a former CEO of a public company, and a lawyer by profession; and Bill Glahn, a partner and director of a large law firm and former Asstt. Attorney General of New Hampshire.
About PeriscopeIQ
PeriscopeIQ is a leading provider of web-based transformative intelligence solutions, including comprehensive, online survey and performance management systems (PMS) based on knowledge-embedded technologies. The company's flagship product, PeriscopeIQ, is a web-based survey solution that helps organizations gain intelligence on customers, employees, suppliers, competitors, investors, the market, etc. The PeriscopeIQ product line enables the collection and analysis of business data at Internet speed, resulting in clearer interpretations, more precise predictions and more confident decision-making. PeriscopeIQ clients include Fortune 500 companies and large organizations such as Comcast, Ingersoll-Rand, Penn National Insurance, Seagate Technology, The Wharton School of Business, The World Bank and The World Health Organization. PeriscopeIQ is a privately held company based in Bethlehem, PA. For more information on the company and/or its offerings, visit www.periscopeiq.com.
For more information on PeriscopeSOX, please send an email to info@periscopeiq.com or call 610-866-6001.
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