Gelco Advisor Summer 2005: Gelco and SAS 70 Type II

Setting New Standards:
Gelco’s SAS 70 Type II Certification —
A Distinct Advantage!

Companies that employ Gelco solutions have a distinct advantage — a comprehensive SAS 70 Type II report eases SOX compliance burdens and allows companies to focus efforts on other more productive activities. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants developed an auditing standard for service providers called Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70 (SAS 70). A SAS 70 audit establishes that a company that provides services has been through an in-depth audit of its own internal control activities. As companies prove their own compliance with Sarbanes Oxley, Gelco’s SAS 70 Type II report serves as a valuable support tool.

SAS 70 Type I
A SAS 70 Type I report contains a description of a company’s controls at a specific point in time and the auditor’s opinion on whether the description is accurate.
SAS 70 Type II
A SAS 70 Type II report includes those elements in a Type I report and additionally contains a detailed description of the testing of the controls conducted by an auditor over a six month period along with an opinion as to whether the controls are reasonably effective.

The SEC stated that independent auditors can rely on the more rigorous SAS 70 Type II certification in preparing the attestation required under Section 404. Note that a Type I SAS 70 certification does not test the effectiveness of controls as a Type II report does and is therefore insufficient for the SEC attestation required in Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. According to the SEC, companies can effectively ‘skip’ the work required to certify these processes themselves if its vendor organizations are SAS 70 Type II certified.

Gelco is the only expense management solution in the marketplace with SAS 70 Type II certification that provides complete coverage for the entire expense management process. Sarbanes-Oxley legislation requires businesses to maintain advanced standards of financial disclosure and internal controls over costs. Companies that use Gelco’s ExpenseLink have these financial disclosure and internal controls already integrated into the travel expense management program, providing these companies an integrated solution for sustaining long-term compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and decreasing costly audits around the T&E process.

Gelco mitigates the burden of Sarbanes-Oxley internal compliance attestation for clients by providing the broadest scope possible for its SAS 70 report, including certification of not only Gelco policy control processes but also make best practice recommendations for T&E policies. In addition, Gelco provides a list of considerations for our customers in defining effective control procedures surrounding expenditures. In combination, Gelco provides the most comprehensive certification available from any vendor today.

Controls Covered by SAS 70 Reports

Controls Covered	Gelco	Other EMA Products
General Computer Controls
Implementation/Configuration
User/Data Maintenance
Policy Compliance
Payment/Funding Process
Financial Disclosure
Audit Processes