Section 404 puts the onus on the company's management to make an assessment of internal controls over financial reporting. Section 404 further states that for making such assessment management should use an
internal control framework based on which management should issue a report. There is commonly a misconception that COSO is the only framework available for evaluating internal controls. No doubt, COSO is the most popular control framework around, there are other control frameworks available which also are very good. One point worth mentioning here is that the (IIA) Institute of Internal Auditors prefers COSO over other frameworks. There may be a couple of reasons for it. The IIA is one of the founding members of COSO and secondly, the popularity of COSO for Section 404 controls evaluation. Moving on to the other control frameworks available.

CoCo Canada - CoCo is a control framework issued by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. The Criteria of Control Board issued the framework in 1995 for evaluating controls. Comparing CoCo with COSO, one can find many areas of overlap between the two. But, CoCo also differs from COSO in a number of areas.

Turnbull Cadbury Report - This is more commonly known as the Combined Code of Corporate Governance. The Turnbull report provides guidance in adopting a risk based approach in establishing a system of internal control and reviewing its effectiveness. One of the key benefits of implementing Turnbull is managing risk effectively and embedding internal controls in all business processes.

KonTrag Germany - KonTrag means "Control and Transperancy in Business Act". It is aimed at promoting corprate governance in public as well as private sector. It is aimed at german capital market for bringing enterprises at par with international standards on corporate governance.

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