[...] the Internet- and phone-based system allows employees of the Ottawa software firm [Cognos] to voice any concerns they might have about potential fraud, abuse, misconduct or other ethical violations in the workplace, including accounting-related concerns over misreporting.

[...]"There are checks and balances within the system to ensure that only those pre-authorized people who logically (deal) with those kinds of scenarios would see the (employee) reports."

The reasons for the system were two-fold. First, the effort fell in line with Cognos' new code of business conduct launched last year. Second, the system responded to the stringent financial reporting regulations within the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX.