How to drive value beyond compliance in your SOX program

With the right partner, SOX compliance can shift from a costly process into an opportunity to drive value across the business. An integrated approach that combines technology and expertise can help businesses achieve lower costs, maximize risk coverage, and provide deeper business insights.

Key takeaways 

• SOX doesn’t have to be a compliance cost center. With the right approach, it can reduce risk while driving process and internal controls optimization, automation, and cost reduction.

• Aligning ERP, RPA, CCM, machine learning (ML)/AI and SOX expertise helps reduce manual testing and unlock meaningful efficiency gains.

• A blended onshore/global delivery model can lower costs while delivering consistent quality and deeper business insights.

For many companies, SOX compliance is viewed as a checkbox exercise—a recurring cost center defined by manual testing, rising fees, and limited strategic insight. But while regulatory requirements haven’t changed drastically, market conditions have.  

To avoid high costs and organizational misalignment, your SOX program needs to evolve alongside your business. By partnering with the right provider and building a program that goes beyond basic compliance, your organization can uncover significant opportunities for rationalization, process optimization, automation, and cost reduction.

The hidden costs of stagnation

Despite recent advancements in technology, traditional delivery models for SOX often rely on manual testing and rigid structures, a pattern often caused by siloed teams within the second- and third-line functions. When risk and control teams operate independently from business process owners, opportunities for efficiency are lost.

This disconnect creates a “value gap,” where companies see rising invoices for SOX hours, yet internal controls remain static. Uncertainty about where to start with automation often leads companies to accept the status quo. However, maintaining a siloed approach can cause the finance function to appear delayed and reactive rather than strategic, agile, and forward-thinking.

How team structure can limit SOX optimization

True modernization requires more than just new software; it requires a realignment of expertise. A major barrier to SOX optimization is the lack of integration between control experts and technology specialists.

If your current provider treats IT General Controls (ITGC) and business process controls as entirely separate systems, your business could be missing critical efficiency gains. Identifying automation opportunities—specifically within your ERP or through Robotic Process Automation (RPA)—is essential to end-to-end SOX optimization.

An effective SOX partner aligns ERP and RPA experts directly with internal audit teams. This integrated approach helps identify automated controls that replace labor-intensive testing. By leveraging the native capabilities of your systems, you free up operational capacity for your staff and increase the reliability of your compliance program.

Where cost efficiency meets consistent quality

At Highspring, we believe that cost efficiency and high-quality insight are not mutually exclusive; they result from a more effective, integrated delivery model.

Our approach to SOX compliance utilizes a blended onshore/offshore delivery model designed to maximize value. Unlike traditional firms, where outsourcing can lead to quality gaps or communication breakdowns, our model is integrated and managed with rigorous oversight. We provide the technical expertise of a top-tier firm with the agility and personalized attention of a true partner.

“We encounter a significant number of companies who fully in-source their SOX function and are being met with budget challenges,” said Greg Rotz, a Highspring Partner and Risk & Regulatory Practice Lead. “What is unfortunate is these companies are not taking advantage of cost-effective global delivery resourcing.  At Highspring, we provide these companies with the option to leverage our established global delivery capabilities to drive down their cost to comply with SOX.”  

This structure allows us to lower your overall compliance costs while delivering deeper insights into your business processes. We don’t just tell you what’s wrong—we help you optimize what’s working.

The benefits of a modern SOX program 

By partnering with a provider that evolves with your business, you’ll transform your SOX program into a business asset. This includes:

• Reduced compliance costs by lowering fees with efficient, automated testing models.

• Faster evidence collection through streamlined processes that ease the burden on your internal teams.

• Stronger alignment by unifying IT, finance, and operations functions to work together more effectively.

• Greater trust and assurance in your systems and data integrity.

These outcomes show how the right SOX partner can turn compliance into a strategic advantage for your business.

Moving from periodic testing to continuous controls monitoring

A modern SOX program should also shift away from periodic, sample-based testing toward continuous controls monitoring (CCM). By integrating AI and ML to automate key manual controls and embedding monitoring logic directly within ERP systems and adjacent tools, organizations can manage risk across 100% of the transaction population, rather than relying on limited samples taken at a single point in time. This approach improves risk coverage and control reliability while enabling real-time exception identification instead of retrospective issue detection.

Automation of evidence generation—such as system reports, control logs, and workflow approvals—further reduces the manual effort required during testing cycles. When controls are designed with AI-powered automation and continuous monitoring in mind, SOX teams can significantly reduce testing hours, minimize disruption to business users, and redirect effort toward higher-value risk analysis and process improvement. AI and ML-embedded SOX processes also enable organizations to further enhance control reliability, reduce costs, and optimize compliance efforts.

Elevate your SOX compliance program with Highspring

Highspring is the partner for public companies ready to demand more from their SOX investment. With organizations facing rising compliance costs, siloed teams, and outdated processes, now’s the time to switch to a SOX provider that innovates with your business. Contact us today to start reducing costs and driving results with a modern approach to SOX compliance.