What is SOX Compliance?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was enacted in 2002 to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate financial disclosures. While SOX primarily addresses financial reporting and corporate governance, it has significant implications for IT asset disposition.

SOX Section 302 requires corporate officers to certify the accuracy of financial statements, and Section 404 requires internal controls over financial reporting. These controls extend to the IT systems that process, store, and transmit financial data. When these systems are retired, the data on them must be properly destroyed, and the destruction must be documented as part of the organization's internal control framework.

For publicly traded companies and their auditors, proper IT asset disposition is part of SOX compliance. This means maintaining records of what equipment was retired, how data was destroyed, who performed the destruction, and when it occurred. A certified ITAD provider streamlines this process by providing detailed disposition reports and certificates that satisfy audit requirements.