Self-assessment is a recognized best practice and has been applied to risks and controls for many years.
Systematically applied across the organization at the entity and process levels, self-assessment is a pre-determined approach whereby individuals self-review or self-audit the controls for which they are responsible and communicate the results to appropriate management. In response to the upward reporting of process owner assessments, follow-up is taken where necessary. While self-assessment may be limited to financial controls to support SOX compliance, the process is flexible enough to apply to other risk areas, such as compliance with other laws and regulations, and operational effectiveness and efficiency.