When Sarbanes Oxley was introduced many companies were unsure as to when the management's assessment of internal control be conducted. Is it for a specific period in time or for a point in time. My colleague from the internal audit covered this in an internal training presentation.

He explained that Management's Assessment of Internal Control is a point in time assessment which has to be done at the end of the fiscal period. Even though management may evaluate the internal controls over a period of time, however the assessment is to be made at a single point in time. Thus controls need to exist at the end of the financial period. But, an important aspect which my colleague pointed out was that to support the assessment, the controls needed to be operating effectively over the entire period of time for management to make its assessment.

More on SOX........

Sarbanes Oxley Investor Protection