Organisations in the UK are now required by evolving UK SOx regulations to strengthen financial reporting and resilience. This means implementing robust internal controls, accurate reporting practices, and effective anti-fraud measures.
For finance and audit leaders, UK SOx compliance is more than a regulatory obligation; it’s about building confidence, trust, and resilience into every financial process.
The introduction of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (UK SOx) aims to rebuild trust in the UK’s financial ecosystem and improve accountability across listed entities.
Who is affected? – All Public Interest Entities (PIEs) and Publicly Listed Companies (PLCs).
What changes? – Finance and Audit Directors will be legally required to vouch for the accuracy of financial statements and the robustness of internal controls.
Why it matters: Company directors will be personally accountable for reporting accuracy, marking a significant shift in UK auditing and governance practices.
This aligns the UK more closely with international best practice and strengthens investor confidence.
"UK SOx compliance is a monumental change in the landscape of auditing and financial reporting and I can confidently say that UK SOx is the most significant transformation I have witnessed."
Anish Kapoor
CEO
Download our guide, written by our CEO Anish Kapoor, where he discusses the origins of UK SOx, the timeline for implementation, the implications for risk and finance managers, plus a checklist to help Finance & Audit teams prepare.
Internal controls strengthen risk visibility, accountability, and transparency, while also reducing manual errors. They help finance and IT functions become more resilient, guiding long-term behavioural change across the organisation.
Automation improves corporate transparency. By removing manual intervention, financial data is harder to tamper with. The result: higher-quality, reliable financial reporting that boosts stakeholder and investor confidence.
Fraud remains a major challenge for UK businesses, from procurement fraud to duplicate payments. Automated payment controls and standardised processes reduce manipulation risks, while also ensuring compliance with UK SOx requirements.
“We needed something that reflected our controlled environment, with an additional layer to flag that there is no risk of fraud. Previously this was a manual process and meant there was nothing stopping someone from logging in and adding miscellaneous bank account details, for example. The payment approval process controls in AccessPay helped reduce this risk.”
Head of Change and Procurement, Darlington Building Society
Read the full case studyThe AccessPay platform introduces automation into payment processing and statement management. Features include:
This ensures payments are consistent, traceable, and compliant with UK SOx accounting and reporting standards.
Automation eliminates the risks of manual downloads:
This reduces fraud risk and improves reconciliation accuracy, a critical step in SOx audit UK readiness.
More on automating bank statement feeds
AccessPay’s Fraud & Error Prevention Suite helps corporates proactively detect and prevent fraud:
Together, these controls create a multi-layered fraud prevention strategy that aligns with UK SOx implementation requirements.
Fraud & Error Prevention Suite
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