Implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act is a herculean task. Companies normally take such tasks as projects. Any project, be it Section 404 implementation or for that matter implementing or evaluating an ERP like SAP or Oracle Applications has a certain lifecycle phases. It makes sense for project managers for Section 404 implemention to have some know-how of a project's lifecycle phases. I am doing exactly that and discussing the project lifecycle phases below:

Initiate - Recognizing there is a need for a project is the first thing in a project's lifecycle. Any company required to comply with the provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes oxley act must first recognize the need for a 404 implementation project.

Plan - Creating a workable goal to meet the project goal is the next step in project lifecycle. Once it is decided that section 404 is to be implemented, a Project Plan is the next logical step.

Execute - Execution comes next. Execution involves coordinating people and resources to carry out the plan. Once the Project plan for Section 404 is ready, it it to be executed with the right resources.

Control - Any project can turn into a disaster if not adequately controlled. Controlling involves taking corrective acction where required. Monitoring and measuring performance of project as per plan is also nothing but controlling. Section 404 implementation projects can become very difficult to control because of their time and resource requirements.

Close - Once all activites in a project are complete, the project needs to be closed formally by appropriate sign offs. Normally, a SOX 404 implementation project gets closed after sign off is recived from the CEO, CFO and above all the statutory auditor.