BE YOUR CEO'S HERO! USE ISO 9001/ 14001 TO REDUCE THE "ENRON" RISK

Abstract

Top management biggest concerns are risks: financial, competitive and now the legal risk of the Sarbanes-Oxley Law (SOX). The problems at Enron, WorldCom and other organizations led to the passage of the new Law. As a result, the CEO and CFO of public companies must certify each financial statement and the effectiveness of their internal control system. Failure may mean civil suits or even jail time.

Quality and environmental management tools can help reduce this risk, improve the transparency of the organization and restore investor confidence. The result will be a structure that provides the information needed by CEOs and CFOs to certify the appropriateness of their financial statements and internal controls.

ISO 9001 & 14001 cover the internal controls required by SOX: (1) Control environment; (2) Information & communication; (3) Risk assessment; (4) Monitoring; and (5) Control activities. ISO 9001 & 14001 provide a mechanism to support the internal controls and manage risk. In addition, these standards provide a measure of the status and effectiveness of the organization.

The bottom line for quality and environmental professionals is an opportunity for direct contact with top management and inputs to the financial auditing process.

Bio

Dr. Sandford Liebesman has had over 30 years experience in the quality sciences at Bell Laboratories, Bellcore, Lucent Technologies, KEMA Registered Quality and STAT-A-MATRIX. He is an ISO 9000 subject matter expert, a member of ISO TC 176, and author of the books TL 9000: A Guide to Measuring Excellence in Telecommunications and Using ISO 9000 to Improve Business Processes. Dr. Liebesman guided the ISO 9000 certification of five Lucent organizations including R & D, manufacturing, network support and a testing laboratory. He is certified by the ASQ Registrar Accreditation Board as an ISO 9000 Lead Auditor and has performed over 65 ISO 9000 and TL 9000 audits. He has also been a member of the Baldrige National Quality Program (BNQP) Board of Examiners and a Quality New Jersey Senior Examiner.