While CFOs and CEOs were the key occupants of the hot seat upon passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (also known as SOX), it didn't take long for health benefits executives to be pulled into the spotlight in SOX audits of public company financials.
Why so? Just follow the money.
"There are millions and millions of dollars flowing through corporate health benefits plans," explains Patrick Manders, marketing director of the Employer Market Group at Thomson Medstat, which specializes in health care data analytics and benefit plan optimization. "Expenditures of that size need to be documented just as thoroughly as all other line items on the financial statement."
According to Section 404 of SOX, public companies are required to document their "internal controls" over processes that contribute in any way to their financials. Importantly, they must also audit the internal controls of their external vendors.
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