SOX Controls
Sarbanes-Oxley for AI Agent Operations
When AI agents approve expenses, generate forecasts, or process transactions, those decisions fall under SOX scope. 11 controls mapped to COSO 2013 ensure financial governance.
What are SOX Controls for AI?
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) mandates internal controls over financial reporting for public companies. Section 302 requires CEO/CFO certification that financial statements are accurate. Section 404 requires management assessment of internal controls. Section 802 mandates record retention.
When AI agents make decisions that affect financials -- approving purchase orders, generating financial reports, classifying transactions, forecasting revenue -- those decisions fall under SOX scope. Any material misstatement caused by an AI agent is a SOX violation.
SOX controls for AI close this gap by mapping AI agent actions to COSO 2013 internal control framework categories, flagging material AI decisions for review, and ensuring four-eyes enforcement on financial operations.
Why it matters in the agentic era
AI agents can approve purchase orders, generate financial reports, and classify transactions. Any of these could materially affect financial statements. Without SOX-specific controls, AI decisions create an uncontrolled gap in your financial governance -- a gap that auditors will find.
The challenge is not just compliance but detection. Which AI decisions are material? A $50 expense approval is not. A $500,000 forecast revision is. Material decision flagging automatically identifies AI actions that cross SOX materiality thresholds.
How MeetLoyd implements SOX Controls
- 11 SOX controls -- Mapped to all 5 COSO 2013 categories: Control Environment, Risk Assessment, Control Activities, Information & Communication, Monitoring Activities.
- Material decision flagging -- Detects high-cost LLM calls, financial keyword patterns, and four-eyes governance events that could affect financial statements.
- Financial monitoring -- Dashboard showing total LLM spend, daily average, highest single call, and over-budget agents. Real-time visibility into AI's financial impact.
- SOX compliance scoring -- 0-100 readiness score with gap analysis prioritized by SOX section (302, 404, 409, 802). P0/P1/P2 priority ranking.
- Four-eyes enforcement -- Dual approval required for any AI action affecting financial data. Different user must approve. Creates HITL task and notification.