...The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law. It is legislation that was introduced proposing changes to regulating the financial practices as well as regulations pertaining to corporate governance, auditor independence, internal control assessment, and enhanced financial disclosure. It also sets several deadlines for compliance. This piece of legislation is named after its two major contributors that of Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley. The act arrangement is under eleven section or titles; however, some of the sections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 are considered to be more important than others, mainly 302, 401, 404, 409, 802 and 906 (full act available on-line at http://www.law.uc.edu/CCL/SOact/toc.html). SOX was a swift reaction to public outcry following corporate scandals, Congress imposed new obligations on directors, executives, lawyers, accountants, and many other entities. Many argue that this was done without due consideration to the Act's possibly adverse effects. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was introduced following a number of court cases of fraud and mismanaging of financial statements by major corporations (e.g., Enron and others). It was deemed necessary because it was quite obvious from the growing number of corporate scandals and resultant public outrage that the corporate world needed more oversight as more and more questionable corporate acts and financial manipulations took center stage in the media and...
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...The Effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act There have been widespread reactions to corporate scandals which have become seemingly common in corporate America. Government reaction to these unethical corporate and accounting scandals has led to regulation and intervention. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is seen as a response to the lack of corporate governance present in many corporations. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 and commonly called Sarbanes-Oxley, Sarbox, or SOX. This United States federal law was enacted on July 30, 2002 in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals, including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems, and WorldCom. The act is administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It sets deadlines for compliance and publishes rules on requirements. The Act contains 11 titles; these describe specific mandates and requirements for financial reporting. Moreover, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act introduced major changes to the regulation of financial practice and corporate governance. It is seen as the most important legislation affecting corporate financial reporting enacted in the United States since the 1930s” (Li, 1). It is extremely essential in to ensure protect to shareholders and the general public from accounting errors and fraudulent practices in an enterprise. However, with government regulation and intervention one must...
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...The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the PCAOB Liberty University Abstract As a result of massive accounting scandals in the United States between 2001 and 2002 involving notorious companies, such as Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and various other recognized entities, President George W. Bush signed into legislation during 2002 the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This historic piece of legislation has had a profound effect on the accounting profession. As a result of the act, the PCAOB was created. Since its inception, the PCAOB has created some of the most importing accounting standards that are used every day by auditors of public companies. This paper takes a look at the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and its effect on internal controls and small businesses. Also, I will discuss the purpose and specific pronouncements related to accounting information systems and internal controls; as well as the impact of possible future pronouncements. Keywords: Sarbanes-Oxley, PCAOB, Accounting information systems The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the PCAOB Massive accounting scandals in the United States between 2001 and 2002 involving notorious companies, such as Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and various other recognized entities, led to the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This historic piece of legislation has had a profound effect on the accounting profession since it was signed into law. As a result of the act, the PCAOB was created. Since its inception, the PCAOB has created some of the most...
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...Adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as an Important Piece of Legislation Professor Ronald Pereira Strayer University BUS 309 Ethics June 12, 2011 1. Analyze the new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms that the SOX required. The Sarbanes Oxley Act, commonly known as SOX, came into existence in 2002, named after Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley, in response to the ever increasing instances of financial scandals plaguing publically traded United States-based companies. The purpose of the Act is to “protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws." (SOX-Online.com). Specifically, the act requires a heightened level of accountability from Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers, the implementation of a Board of Directors, stricter fines and jail time for violations or fraud, closely monitored disclosure of financial documents and data, and the need for independent external auditing. 2. Examine why the new enhanced standards are necessary. The basic concept of why the new enhanced standards are necessary is to hold companies and their executives accountable for their actions and the data they present to investors and securities agencies. The Act specifically addresses 11 areas for control, which are Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB); Auditor Independence; Corporate Responsibility;...
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...THE LEGAL REGULATION OF THE EXTERNAL COMPANY AUDITOR IN POST-ENRON SOUTH AFRICA Hannine Drake THESIS PRESENTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LAWS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH Supervisor: Prof A.H. van Wyk March 2009 ii DECLARATION By submitting this thesis electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the owner of the copyright thereof (unless to the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. Date: 25 February 2009 Copyright © 2009 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In acknowledgement to all who have contributed to this work in some form: writing this thesis would have otherwise been like swimming through mud. To my supervisor, Professor Andreas van Wyk, thank you for your leadership, patience, and academic skill in guiding me through the research process. To Adéle Mulder and Charl Marais, thank you for your continuous insight and perspectives, both academic and otherwise. And finally to Hilda and Gerrie Steyn, who have been absolutely crucial throughout all my years of study, thank you for your indispensable support, in all its forms. iv SUMMARY The worldwide increase of corporate failures on the scale of Enron and WorldCom has sparked a renewed international trend of corporate governance review...
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...fraud through its repeated use of what are referred to as Special Purpose Entities (“SPEs”). In their most basic forms, SPEs are business entities formed for the purpose of conducting a well specified activity such as construction of a gas pipeline, or collection of a specific group of accounts receivable. However, because of their complex nature, SPEs can be used to manipulate a corporation’s financial results, which was the primary use for which Enron employed the SPE structure. As a result, the investment and financial community has cast a dark cloud over the special purpose entity, depicting the SPE as an inherently evil structure whose only purpose is to defraud, obfuscate and manipulate a company’s financial results. The purpose of this piece is to challenge this assumption and conclusion as incorrect. This article shows how the SPE abuse Enron perpetrated was neither an indictment of the SPE or the accounting regime under which Enron was operating, but of individuals who intentionally ran afoul of the accounting and disclosure rules that were...
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...E-business Web sites handle transactions automatically, with the accounting data going directly into the necessary databases. The concept of a paper trail has become a bit of a misnomer; today, because of accounting information systems, there is often no paper involved at all; however, it is important to establish the flow the data in different areas of the organization, or audit trail, so as to properly exercise internal controls. AISs help in this purpose. At the outset of this course, you will learn the basics of accounting information systems and business processes. Next, you will learn about database management systems, and the design of various database models. Finally, you will learn about how to use internal controls effectively for risk management, as well as the requirements for business reporting. After completing this course, you should not only have a clear idea of how accounting information systems work, but you should also be prepared to design and configure them to meet the record-keeping and risk management requirements of the organization. In addition, you will be prepared to design them to meet legal obligations—such as those defined in the United States’ Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002—as well as ethical obligations. LEARNING OUTCOMES: A. Develop a conceptual knowledge of the nature and functionality of an accounting information system and systems in general (Module 1). B. Explain how an accounting system captures business events,...
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...Best Practices in Records Management & Regulatory Compliance Andy Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Cheryl McKinnon, Hummingbird Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . .4 Records Management: Beyond the Quick Fix There’s a movie playing at my multiplex that warns against placing blind trust in technology, because it’ll getcha in the end. I haven’t seen it yet …” The RM Challenge of Electronic Communications The world of a typical knowledge worker is changing once again. Over the last two decades the technology revolution has broadened access to authoring tools, e-mail and other forms of electronic communication … TOWER Software North America . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Randolph Kahn, Esq. & . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Barclay T. Blair, Kahn Consulting E-Mail Management: Avoiding the 6 Common Mistakes Information management has become a vital focus for all organizations to address risk mitigation, compliance and overall business continuity … Records Management Redefined: From The Backroom to the Boardroom What is Records Management? Records management is the application of policies, practices, technologies and other management controls … Del Zane and Dean Berg, Stellent . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Turning Compliance Projects into Business Processes In the not-too-distant past, compliance initiatives often were characterized by back-office operations that involved large volumes of records … Michael McLaughlin, Exact Software . . . . . ....
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...the accounting practice, but to reduce the differences over time. Standardising the accounting practices around the world comes as a boomerang effect of capitalisation. We have companies that trade in different countries and thus they must oblige with each of the accounting practices of every country where the company produces financial statements. This leads to the situation where you have a company reporting a shareholders’ equity of just over $15 million under the UK regulations, while in accordance with the US accounting rules the same company reports a shareholders’ equity value of $32 million, a difference of over 100% between the two financial statements of the same company. Accounting harmonisation and convergence have become important issues over the last couple of years and thus remain controversial. It...
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...REPORT RE: RECENT ACCOUNTING AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SCANDALS Contents INTRODUCTION: 3 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 5 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN IRELAND 5 RESPONSE FROM REGULATORS TO THE MOST RECENT SCANDALS IN BANKING SECTOR 7 US CORPORATE GOVERNANCE at a time of Tyco scandal 8 RESPONSE FROM THE REGULATORS -SARBANES-OXLEY ACT 2002 9 AUDIT 10 EXTERNAL AUDIT 10 INTERNAL AUDIT 11 INTRODUCTION TO ANGLO IRISH BANK 12 The Scandals 12 Loans to Sean Fitzpatrick 13 Irish Life and Permanent Depositing Funds 14 Corporate Governance Situation of Anglo 16 Ernst & Young – External Auditor 17 Impact on Shareholders & The Public 18 Company Law, Financial Regulator, Accounting Standards IFRS and GAAP 19 TYCO INTERNATIONAL 20 DETAILS OF TYCO’S SCANDAL 21 ACCOUNTING ISSUES IDENTIFIED 22 THE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE WEAKNESSES AT TYCO 22 PERFORMANCE OF EXTERNAL AUDITORS 23 CONCLUSION 27 The Main Reasons for The Scandals 27 Steps taken afterwards-will they prevent similar events happening in the future? 33 END REFLECTION 36 Bibliography: 37 Appendices: 41 INTRODUCTION: Accounting and corporate governance scandals have been a growing problem in the recent years. Many believe that the blame for those scandals should be borne on two groups of people. Those responsible for managing a company and those whose duty is to provide assurance on the accounts prepared by the directors (auditors), both of whom failed to perform their jobs adequately...
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...ABSTRACT This project is based on “BPO INDUSTRY IN INDIA”. Business Process Outsourcing is the delegation of one or more of the business processes to an external provider, which in turn owns, manages and controls the selected processes based on some specific standards. It was started in India in early 1980’s by the British Airways who set-up their captive unit in Delhi. BPO in India starts with low-end data entry processes, but now it moves up the value chain and deals in core business processes also. Both voice and non-voice BPO Industry exists in India. Various types of services are performed, call centres being the attraction today for the youth. BPO operates through three types of business models viz. - Transactional, Niche and Comprehensive. Finance and Accounting has also set its significant place in BPO pie. In 2008, BPO industry generates USD 12.8 Bn revenue, out of which exports revenue was USD 10.9 Bn. It will achieve USD 14.8 Bn by the end of 2009 (expected) and is expected to achieve USD 60 Bn by 2012 and USD 225 Bn by the end of 2020. Cost competitiveness and talented pool of human resources are the key drivers in the growth of BPO industry, but still some factors such as underdeveloped infrastructure and competition from other low-cost countries are providing challenge to the Indian industry, which needs to be addressed carefully by the cooperation of government, NASSCOM and industry itself. Still, India is shining in the...
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...A Framework for IT Governance in Small Businesses by Herman Koornhof A FRAMEWORK FOR IT G O V E R N A N C E by IN SMALL BUSINESSES Herman Koornhof TREATISE Submitted for the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MAGISTER TECHNOLOGIAE in Business Information Systems in the FACULTY ENGINEERING, BUILT ENVIRONMENT OF THE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY of the N E L S O N M A N D E L A M E T R O P O L I T A N U N I V E R SI T Y Supervisor: Prof. Rossouw von Solms January 2009 ii Declaration I, Herman Koornhof, hereby declare that: • • • The work in this treatise is my own work. All sources used or referred to have been documented and recognised. This treatise has not previously been submitted in full of partial fulfilment of the requirements for an equivalent or qualification at any other recognised educational institution. higher Herman Koornhof iii Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the following people: • My love, Jenny, for your love and understanding during the past year. Without your encouragement and inspiration this work would not have been possible. • • My family and friends for your interest and support. My supervisor, Prof. Rossouw von Solms, for your guidance and advice, and your detailed and constructive comments. • To Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. iv Table...
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...Research Study Capital-Market Effects of Corporate Disclosures and Disclosure Regulation Christian Leuz Peter Wysocki June 26, 2006 Commissioned by the Task Force to Modernize Securities Legislation in Canada Christian Leuz Christian Leuz is currently the Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. He is also the David G. Booth Faculty Fellow. Prior to this position, Professor Leuz was the Harold Stott Term Assistant Professor in Accounting at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Fellow at Wharton’s Financial Institution Center. His research interests include transparency and corporate governance, financial disclosure and securities regulation, and the links between the institutions of market economies. Professor Leuz earned his doctoral degree and “Habilitation” at the Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany. His most recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Accounting and Economics and the Journal of Accounting Research. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Accounting and Economics and serves currently on the Editorial Board of The Accounting Review, the Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of Business, Finance and Accounting, and the International Journal of Accounting. He has received several grants and honors, of which the Geewax Terker Prize is the latest. Peter Wysocki Professor Peter Wysocki is an associate professor of management at...
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...Citation: 18 Duke J. Comp. & Int'l L. 151 2007-2008 Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline (http://heinonline.org) Thu Oct 17 14:15:18 2013 -- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at http://heinonline.org/HOL/License -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. -- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your HeinOnline license, please use: https://www.copyright.com/ccc/basicSearch.do? &operation=go&searchType=0 &lastSearch=simple&all=on&titleOrStdNo=1053-6736 EXCHANGE CONSOLIDATION AND MODELS OF INTERNATIONAL SECURITIES REGULATION Bo HARVEY* INTRODUCTION In recent years, globalization and a growing demand for capital have increased competition within the capital markets for the business of issuers and investors.! This has led stock and derivatives exchanges to change their business models from mutual business entities, run for the benefit of their members, to demutualized corporations, run for the benefit of shareholders Consequently, as for-profit corporations, exchanges have looked to position themselves more competitively in an internationalized securities market. Part of such positioning has included increasing exchange alliances and acquisitions on a global scale. This is highlighted by the recent merger between the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Euronext (the new entity to be known as NYSE-Euronext). With financial markets...
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...no. 21, Spring 2005 Ethics of Taxation and Banking Secrecy Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, no. 12, Autumn 2002 Will the Euro Shape Europe? Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, no. 9, Winter 2001–2 Dommen, E. (ed.) Debt Beyond Contract Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, Supplement no. 2, 2001 Bonvin, J.-M. Debt and the Jubilee: Pacing the Economy Finance & the Common Good/Bien Commun, Supplement no. 1, 1999 Dembinski, P. H. (leading contributor) Economic and Financial Globalization: What the Numbers Say United Nations, Geneva, 2003 Enron and World Finance A Case Study in Ethics Edited by Paul H. Dembinski Carole Lager Andrew Cornford and Jean-Michel Bonvin in association with the Observatoire de la Finance Selection, editorial matter and Chapters 1, 2 and 16 © Observatoire de la Finance Remaining chapters © contributors 2006 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have...
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