The Postal Service™ is continuing to realize Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) compliance. Business Mail Entry Unit/Detached Mail Units (BMEU/DMUs) serve as an integral part of the SOX compliance program. The SOX program continues to test key controls at these facilities to ensure SOX compliance standards are met.
During the mail entry process, it is important to thoroughly ensure each control activity is executed in accordance to policy, job-aids, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).The SOX Key Control Guide: FY 2011 Spring Edition at http://blue.usps.gov/sox/Current_Key_Control_Guide.pdf lays out the proper procedures and required documentation for BMEU/DMU processes. For example, during electronic postage statement check-in, you should remember to review all data in PostalOne!® and initiate the posting of the statement for further processing by checking the Job Arrival Time (JAT) box. The following list details the five BMEU controls tested regularly at Postal Service facilities:
n Acceptance: Postage Statement Completion.
n Postage Statement Check-in.
n Mailing Verification Procedures.
n Finalize/Clear: Verify Each Container has Clearance Document.
n Reconciliation: Perform End-of-Day Reconciliation.
The Key Control Guide also explains the following testing protocol and procedures at DMUs:
n Acceptance: Postage Statement Completion.
n Mailing Verification Procedures.
n (PVDS Origin) Compare Postage Statement to PS Form 8125 (if applicable).
n Finalize/Clear (DMU): Observe Loading and Secure Vehicles.
Given the nature of the work performed within the BMEU/DMU, ensuring proper execution of procedures and required documentation of these controls are critical to the Postal Services’s bottom line. With your help and diligence, the Postal Service will continue to be a SOX-complaint organization.
To see how your unit is doing, check the SOX Compliance Scorecard, available on the SOX website at http://blue.usps.gov/sox/. You can also view links to the Key Control Guide Webinar series hosted earlier this year by SOX Program Management Office (PMO) and download the accompanying Q&A document there.
Don’t forget — send SOX-related questions to the SOX inbox at SOX@usps.gov.
— SOX Management Controls and Integrations,
Controller, 4-19-12
