Press Releases

Company completes a full Sarbanes-Oxley implementation in less than one week and for less than $45K for a $150M market cap company

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - December 2, 2009 - Vibato, a leading provider of innovative, efficient solutions helping companies of all sizes and industries minimize the costs associated with Sarbanes-Oxley and SAS-related compliance requirements, today announced that Zagg, Inc implemented Sox Compliance Made Simple (SCMS) in less than a week for less than $45K.  With companies like Zagg and a consistently growing customer roster, Vibato continues to see rapid adoption of the SCMS toolset.  Vibato customers and partners benefit from the rapid implementation time, integrated controls testing procedures, supplemental documentation to ensure proper control understanding and execution, and standardized approach based on best-practice methodologies.

Zagg, Inc., a $150 million market cap company and the innovative consumer products manufacturer of the invisibleSHIELD^TM clear protective film, has experienced rapid growth leading to a transition to accelerated public filer status for 2009.  This transition required an accelerated Sarbanes-Oxley implementation project that could be completed in a short time period and would not interfere with their rapid growth and demanding resource constraints.  Vibato was able to complete the initial implementation at Zagg in just two days which included a risk assessment, documentation of eight process cycles and a segregation of duties analysis, and will complete all required initial testing in just a few weeks.

"I was surprised and very satisfied that Vibato was able to complete the implementation and testing so quickly," said Brandon O'Brien, chief financial officer at Zagg, Inc.  "This really reduced our own anticipated internal resource effort, while keeping the costs down and still allowing us to be prepared for our year-end audit."

Zagg was referred to Vibato by their audit partner, Paul Skeen, at Hansen, Barnett, & Maxwell P.C. (HBM).  Based on a belief in Vibato's unique approach with SCMS®, HBM has referred several clients who need a truly cost-effective approach comprised of a comprehensive set of tools and documentation that can be completed in as little as one day.

"We are very supportive of Vibato because they really understand how to deliver value in their approach and we believe this provides the highest level of service to our clients," said Paul Skeen, partner at Hansen, Barnett, & Maxwell P.C.  "We are continually looking for ways to assist our clients in meeting their compliance needs and Vibato's unique approach is the best we have seen for helping our clients establish or refine a strong internal control infrastructure quickly and cost-effectively."

"We were delighted to work with a great growth company like Zagg; we really feel like we get what our customers need just like they do," said Teresa Bockwoldt, chief executive officer, Vibato.  "I am confident our approach can serve non-accelerated and accelerated filers of all sizes and needs, as well as those companies who have already completed their Sarbanes-Oxley work and are looking for a more efficient approach that reduces both cost and effort.  We share a common vision with HBM for delivering excellent customer service and value to our clients and our clients' shareholders.  This effort, combined with the great service provided by HBM, makes Sarbanes-Oxley implementations useful for clients."

ZAGG, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZAGG) is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the mobile experience.  ZAGG designs, manufactures and distributes protective clear coverings and accessories for consumer electronic and hand-held devices worldwide under the brand names invisibleSHIELD(TM) and ZAGGaudio(TM).  ZAGG continues to increase its product lines to offer additional electronic accessories and services to its tech-savvy customer base, including upcoming technologies like ZAGGbox, to be introduced at CES 2010, and HzO, a breakthrough gadget waterproofing technology.  The invisibleSHIELD is a protective, high-tech patented film covering designed for iPods, laptops, cell phones, digital cameras, PDAs, watch faces, GPS systems, gaming devices and other items.  The patent-pending invisibleSHIELD application of clear protective film covering a device is the first scratch protection solution of its kind on the market and has sold millions of units.  For more product or investor information, please visit the company's web site at here.

HBM has provided quality client service for more than 40 years and has built a solid understanding of businesses.  HBM's experience gives them the edge to help their clients grow and succeed.  Whether for traditional CPA services such as audit, tax and write-up, or for more specialized services such as SEC filings, profit enhancement, benefits consulting, litigation support and more, HBM's expert staff is ready to customize a portfolio of services designed to meet customer needs and exceed their expectations.  For more information, please visit http://www.hbmcpas.com/.

Vibato's game-changing modular approach allows scalability while also minimizing implementation and ongoing testing costs.  In addition, the integrated and standardized approach helps streamline the external audit effort, resulting in both cost and time savings for Vibato partners such as HBM and their clients.

The SCMS suite is currently available for companies of all sizes and industries.  For more information please visit this link or call (888) 4VIBATO.

About Vibato

Vibato, LLC is dedicated to providing the most cost-effective compliance solutions available.  Our mission is to help you reduce audit and compliance fees, improve financial transparency and run your business more efficiently.  For more information, please visit us at www.vibato.com or contact us directly at mail@vibato.com.

Company delivers scalable solutions to meet compliance for internal controls, reduce audit costs as Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 deadline approaches

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - November 3, 2009 - SOX Professionals, a leading provider of innovative, efficient solutions helping companies of all sizes and industries minimize the costs associated with Sarbanes-Oxley and SAS-related compliance requirements, has changed its name to Vibato and has seen rapid adoption of its SOX Compliance Made Simple (SCMS) toolset.  In the last two quarters, more than 10 new implementations have been successfully performed with both accelerated and non-accelerated public company filers representing the bio-technology, clean energy, consumer products and medical devices industries.  Vibato offers a product-based approach with its SCMS Suite, allowing public and private companies of all sizes to save money, reduce existing internal control counts and decrease audit-related fees.

Designed to meet the needs of both public filers and audited private companies, SCMS helps scope and document the compliance requirements for SOX Section 404 and SAS 104-111 regulations.  With the recent SEC announcement of the final June 15, 2010 deadline for achieving section 404 compliance for non-accelerated public filers, the demand for an affordable and simplified solution is more timely than ever.

The game-changing SCMS tool suite is built on a foundation of proven, best-practice methodologies enabling companies to easily reduce their cost burden associated with implementing and maintaining their internal control infrastructure.  Smaller companies now have a solution that fits their budget and larger companies can significantly reduce the ongoing costs associated with maintaining compliance.

Traditionally, companies have had to opt for costly time-and-materials-based solutions for compliance.  However, SCMS delivers a comprehensive and integrated software solution based on industry best practices, Six Sigma guidelines, and Fortune 20 procedures benchmarked against the Big Four external audit plans.

The SCMS family of tools includes the following modules:

• Risk Assessment
• Up to 14 unique Process Cycles
• Segregation of Duties Analysis

Companies utilizing SCMS will experience benefits such as:

• Modular Software - supports scalability and you only pay for what you need
• Fixed-Pricing - includes consulting time and you know your costs before you start
• Rapid Implementation - up and running in days versus months
• Standardized Approach - based on best practices, meaning less testing and audit review time
• Supplemental Documentation - complete documentation provided to avoid wasted time creating policies, checklists, and procedures
• Strong Integration - all control matrices and testing procedures are fully integrated to ensure version control and minimal document handling efforts

Solar Power Inc. (OTCBB: SOPW) a leading designer, manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar power systems, implemented SCMS to handle internal controls for five of their business divisions in their California and Shenzhen, China locations. 

"When we used SCMS I was very impressed by how painless and effective the process was," said Jeff Winzeler, chief financial officer, Solar Power Inc.  "We were up and running in a few days, and expect to save more than $100K per year on our ongoing compliance costs through reductions in audit fees.  Our internal control infrastructure was documented cost-effectively and efficiently, allowing for greater transparency while streamlining internal activities.  Vibato has really delivered a strong ROI for us by making a complex, time-consuming process a simple and effective one." 

"For years companies have associated meeting compliance regulations with an arduous and painful review process, but we knew we could deliver a solution that would provide an entirely different experience," said Teresa Bockwoldt, chief executive officer, Vibato.  "Why recreate the wheel when there are tried and true best practices that consistently deliver results?  We are empowering customers by providing them with a completely different methodology that simplifies the process, gets them up and running quickly, and most importantly saves them time and money."

The SCMS suite is currently available for companies of all sizes and industries.  For more information please visit www.vibato.com or call (415) 240-4867.

05/01/2009 - 01:22 SAN FRANCISCO & SAN JOSE, Calif.--(Business Wire)--Burr Pilger Mayer (BPM), the largest non-national accounting and consulting firm in the Bay Area and SOX Professionals, LLC, a leader in innovative and cost-effective Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance solutions, are offering two, one-day seminars to identify and address compliance needs.

The seminars will be held Thursday, June 11 in San Francisco and Tuesday, June 16 in San Jose at the regional BPM offices.

By participating in the seminar, each attendee will leave with a completed risk assessment which is a critical first step in developing or updating a compliance strategy.

The seminars qualify for 8 hours of CPE credit. To register online, go to our seminars page.

"We believe in this unique approach to addressing the demands of SOX compliance," said Stephen D. Mayer, managing partner of BPM. "We are working with SOX Professionals to deliver this cost-effective solution to our clients in an effort to meet their compliance goals."

In February, SOX Professionals announced the release of the SOX Compliance Made Simple product suite designed for non-accelerated filers needing to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002. This new offering allows companies to establish and manage effective internal controls, reduce audit costs, and mitigate business risk for a fraction of the cost and effort of traditional approaches.

Teresa Bockwoldt, co-founder of SOX Professionals, said, "We recognize and appreciate the cost and complexity of meeting Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and our objective is to help our clients do it successfully as quickly and cost-effectively as possible without losing sight of the fact that having strong internal controls can further improve the financial transparency and operating efficiency of their company. The recent predictions that non-accelerated filers may need to comply this year means that now is the time to put their compliance strategy in place. Providing the Risk Assessment as part of the seminar already puts the participating companies ahead in scoping their compliance initiatives. They walk away with a map showing them where to start, the cost and effort required, and a timeline for completion using SOX Compliance Made Simple, the simplest approach available today."

SOX Compliance Made Simple takes the ambiguity and inefficiency out of SOX compliance and replaces it with clear step-by-step instructions and standardized controls based on industry best practice, Six Sigma guidelines, and Fortune 20procedures benchmarked against the Big 4 external audit plans, objectives and risks.

This approach has been tested hundreds of times across organizations of all sizes and industry profiles with the same results - successful assessment, documentation, and remediation of all internal controls, reduced control counts, and reductions in audit fees and durations.

Seminar Locations: BPM San Francisco 600 California Street, Suite 1300 San Francisco, CA 94108

BPM San Jose60 S. Market Street, 8th Floor San Jose, CA 95113

About SOX Professionals
SOX Professionals, LLC is an organization of accounting, audit, tax, and IT professionals dedicated to providing the most cost-effective compliance solutions available. Our mission is to help you reduce audit fees, improve financial transparency, and run your business more efficiently. SOX Professionals, the SOX Professionals logo, SOX Compliance Made Simple are registered trademarks of SOX Professionals, LLC. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. For more information, please visit www.soxprofessionals.com.

About Burr Pilger
Mayer Burr Pilger Mayer (BPM) is the 5th largest accounting and business consulting firm in Northern California, with offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, Santa Rosa and Novato. BPM offers tax, business consulting, wealth management and audit services across a wide spectrum of industries. The 400-person firm is locally owned, with a strong foundation of environmental, social and philanthropic stewardship. For more information, please visit www.bpmllp.com.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 24, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SOX Professionals, LLC, a leader in innovative and cost-effective Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance solutions, announces the release of the SOX Compliance Made Simple product suite designed for non-accelerated filers needing to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002. This revolutionary new approach allows you to establish and manage effective internal controls, reduce audit costs, and mitigate business risk for a fraction of the cost and effort of traditional approaches.

The traditional consultative approach to SOX implementations, requiring months of effort and more than $100,000 in cost, is no longer necessary. A broad range of implementation experiences has shown that these timeframes and costs relate to the non-standardized documentation and testing methods used today and the lack of "best practice" knowledge being applied. The SOX Made Simple approach is an integrated, fixed-price, solution used to establish a set of benchmarked controls and test plans which can save up to 50% of the audit budget and be completed in weeks instead of months.

A recent article from CFO.com cited comments related to SOX compliance from Mary Schapiro, the new SEC chairwoman, which included the following; "For example, she plans to require that small publicly traded companies comply with the auditor-attestation requirement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act - which they've been able to avoid since the law was passed nearly seven years ago. "Right now, we have a system where some issuers are complying with 404 and others are still exempt from it," Schapiro said in written responses to several questions by Sen. Carl Levin. "It's time we bring uniformity to the system."

SOX Compliance Made Simple takes the ambiguity and inefficiency out of SOX compliance and replaces it with clear step-by-step instructions and standardized controls based on industry best practice, Six Sigma guidelines, and Fortune 20 procedures benchmarked against the Big 4 external audit plans, objectives and risks. This approach has been tested hundreds of times across organizations of all sizes and industry profiles with the same results - successful assessment, documentation, and remediation of all internal controls, reduced control counts, and reductions in audit fees and durations.

SOX Professionals, in conjunction with Tatum(tm), LLC and NASDAQ OMX®, is offering four one-day seminars to identify compliance needs in Salt Lake City, Utah during the week of April 6-10th. "We believe in this unique approach to addressing the demands of SOX compliance for smaller reporting companies, and we are working with SOX Professionals to deliver this cost-effective solution to our clients in an effort to meet their compliance goals. By participating in the seminar, each attendee will leave with a completed risk assessment which is a critical first step in developing or updating your compliance strategy," stated Bob Bench, Managing Partner of the Salt Lake City office of Tatum LLC.

Teresa Bockwoldt, Co-founder of SOX Professionals, said, "We recognize and appreciate the cost and complexity of meeting Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and our objective is to help our clients do it successfully as quickly and cost-effectively as possible without losing sight of the fact that having strong internal controls can further improve the financial transparency and operating efficiency of their company. The recent predictions that non-accelerated filers may need to comply this year means that now is the time to put their compliance strategy in place. Providing the Risk Assessment as part of the seminar already puts the participating companies ahead in scoping their compliance initiatives. They walk away with a map showing them where to start, the cost and effort required, and a timeline for completion using SOX Compliance Made Simple, the simplest approach available today."