“Auditing Standard No. 2 allows the auditor to use, to a reasonable degree, the work performed by others. The more extensive and reliable management's assessment is, the less extensive and costly the auditor's work will need to be.”

- Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA)

The ARGOS Approach to SOX Compliance Provides:

A true consulting partner

Our competitors usually work strictly as auditors-- if they find problems, they leave companies to deal with them on their own. ARGOS is not just an auditor, ARGOS is a true consulting partner. If we find problems, we work with a company to find and implement the best solutions. We collaborate with company staff to identify the appropriate controls and present them clearly to the external teams.

ARGOS also takes a flexible approach. Many companies like to do their own work, but sometimes get into situations where they need help, either from a consulting or mentoring perspective or from a hands-on direct contributor. Unlike our competitors, we are happy to accommodate any combination of mentoring and hands-on work so that a company's needs are met exactly.

Controls tailored to the company

Other services use the same old controls over and over, while using exhaustive checklists to pretend to develop a custom set. Meanwhile, this meaningless exercise potentially adds 80 to 100 hours to the engagement. ARGOS takes a proven set of beginning controls and tailors them to the individual company. Then ARGOS's new SOX Regulatory Compliance Architecture allows our auditor/consultants to jump right into the control set --- without the need for exhaustive checklists.

This methodology enables us to refine the control set to ensure a complete and accurate picture of internal controls.

Stress-free roles for company staff

How many services truly reduce the stress on a company's staff? Not only does the ARGOS methodology provide a superior product, its efficiency reduces the time requirement from a company's individual staff members.

When staff time is required, the ARGOS setup ensures they can quickly grasp their roles and accomplish them smoothly. We are so sure of this that our control matrices are designed to enable the staffs of client companies to perform their own end-of-quarter and mid-year tests.

Documentation that pleases external auditors

Other services still produce documents in a style created for 1950s and 60s finance audits. They produce massive amounts of documentation, controls, design inquiry and tests that can total up to eight volumes. Not only does this create internal audits that can run more than 1,000 hours, it confronts external auditors with annoyingly irrelevant work.

Argos doesn't produce unnecessary documents. We produce a single, integrated final document will all the components required or suggested by Audit Standard #2. The ARGOS-produced document is concise, flows clearly, and demonstrates the logic of our proven methodology. Such major accounting firms as PWC and KPMG have enthusiastically reviewed our final documentation.

Time and labor savings

Most of our competitors want their practitioners to perform everything manually, with team members using their own tools and practices. In addition to wasting time, this causes inconsistencies that make the product harder for external teams to review. ARGOS has developed standard forms and templates that directly support the methodology. With these tools, ARGOS saves companies time and money by performing repetitious tasks by computer in milliseconds.

The finished product presents external auditors with a standard paradigm through all document sections. ARGOS provides reports in hard copy and on CD/ROM with all supporting evidence so that executives and external auditors can rapidly review the facts by taking advantage of links and rich text to move quickly through the material. To find out more about this vastly improved final work product, and for all the ways ARGOS can save time and money, contact us today.