...Schmerling; Jaime Ulloa Auditing Theory and Practice 0902 ACCT422 4021 Due: April 29, 2009 Table of Contents Page Number What is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002? 3 Why was SOX established? 4 When did SOX take effect? 5 What companies were affected and how? 6 What does SOX compliance require? 9 Conclusion 11 References 13 What is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002? The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 – its official name being “Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002” – is recognized to be the most significant U.S. federal disclosure and corporate governance legislation since the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act), and, the provisions of the Act are significant enough that it is considered by many to be the most significant change to federal securities laws in the U.S. since the New Deal. It is best understood, however, not as a piece of legislation centered on a new concept of regulation, but as a process which mandated that many major reforms be implemented as soon as possible (in some cases, within 30 days) on the precise schedule specified by Congress. In that sense, the Enron and WorldCom debacles provided the impetus of public outrage that forced into effect some of the most readily available reform proposals for publicly traded companies, many of which had existed for years without...
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...Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 Terri Largent BUS591: Financial Accounting & Analysis Dr. Donald Majors August 24, 2015 Fraud is something that the United States and the New York Stock Exchange is all too familiar with, and with the upheaval of many big companies such as Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, Xerox, and Sunbeam, the country’s economic stability took a turn for the worst. However, the year of 2002 brought about many changes for the economic world, most notably to publicly traded companies. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was the beginning of a new, transparent view of the stock exchange and of corporations that publicly sold and traded stock. While we are not out of the woods yet, the world is seeing the benefits of SOX and the PCAOB (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board). There are, however, skeptics and those that do not feel that the price being paid by these companies is worth the amount of stabilization that it has brought to the corporate table. This paper will examine the key components of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, its primary objective, the economic consequences for companies as a result of the implementation of the Act, and will also show how SOX has achieved its goals thus far. Before we can fully appreciate the idea behind the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, we must first take a look at the country’s economic fragility before this law was created. While stock markets were seemingly doing very well in the eyes of the investors, behind the scenes the...
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...Generally Accepted Auditing Standards Paper Gary Varnell University of Phoenix ACC 490 Auditing Aaron Strenkoski July 11, 2011 Introduction This paper is designed to explain the nature and functions of auditing, relate these functions to the audit functions of the Shawnee News-Star, describe the elements that make up the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards and how these standards apply to financial, operational, and compliance audits. This paper will also explain the effect that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 as well as the Public Company Auditing Oversight Board (PCAOB) will have on the audits of companies that are publicly traded, and will also discuss the additional requirements that are placed on auditors as a result of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as well as the actions of the PCAOB. Auditing is defined as “ a systematic process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence regarding assertions about economic actions and events to ascertain the degree of correspondence between those assertions and established criteria and communicating the results to interested users” (Boynton & Johnson 2006, p. 6). The auditing process begins with the auditor obtaining information of an entity and evaluating, in an unbiased manner, this information as it relates to the processes, economic transactions and procedures of the entity. When evaluating this information, the auditor must ensure that the information complies with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and any...
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...Nature and Functions of Auditing August 31st, 2012 Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you explain the nature and functions of auditing. Relate your explanation to the audit functions in your organization, or an organization with which you are familiar. In your paper, be sure to address the following: • Describe the elements of the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS). • Describe how these standards apply to financial, operational, and compliance audits. • Explain the effect that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), will have on audits of publicly traded companies. Discuss the additional requirements that are placed on auditors from this Act, and the actions of the PCAOB. This paper discusses the nature and functions of auditing addressing the elements of the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS), how these standards apply to financial, operational, and compliance audits, the effect that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) will have on audits of publicly traded companies, and the additional requirements that are placed on auditors from SOX and PCAOB. Nature and Functions of Audit Auditing is a systematic process of obtaining and evaluating evidence regarding assertions about economic actions, events and processes wherein evaluations are made and verified as true and correct. The auditing process consists of gathering...
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...Oxley Act of 2002 Daniel Alvalle BUS 670 Legal Environment Instructor: Peter McCann 7/29/2013 If you were an investor would you want your money protected? Would you be skeptical about investing in companies since the securities fraud scandals that have happened recently? The answer is most likely, “yes”, to a certain degree. With the news about unethical business practices and companies not following regulatory guidelines, it is difficult to ignore the risk that is involved with trusting someone else with your investment. But there is an answer to help protect companies and shareholder, and it comes in the form of a regulatory organization that was put in place in 2002. That was put in place as a direct response to the corporate scandals of Enron and other scandals that followed, and was also put in place to help restore confidence in the financial market. SOX-Applies only to US companies on the US exchange, and is an Act put in place in 2002 to mandate all publicly traded corporations to maintain adequate internal control. SOX basically make sure that all US publicly traded corporation do what is in the best interest to protect the investment of stockholders. SOX-Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is an ACT that was put in place where all publicly traded U.S. corporations are required to follow certain guidelines and requirements. Basically, these systems were put in place because of securities fraud issues that came to light in the early 2000’s, and are put in place...
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...series of several days in October 1929 the market dropped a few times, but banks and companies were still loaning money and investing in the market leading people to believe everything was okay. Investors were now unable to invest confidently and banks had no regulations on their financial statements. The accounting profession was pressured to establish more uniform accounting standards after this stock market crash of 1929. Some people felt that misleading or, incomplete if you will, financial statement information made the stock prices inflate contributing to the stock market crash and the depression that followed. The Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 were designed to restore that confidence in the investor. The 1933 act sets accounting and disclosure requirements for initial stocks and bonds, while the 1934 act applies to secondary transactions and mandates reporting requirements for companies whose securities are publicly traded. The 1934 act also created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The 1934 act gave the SEC both the power and responsibility for setting accounting and reporting standards for companies whose securities are publicly traded by Congress. (highered.mcgraw-hill.com) However, the SEC, has delegated the primary responsibility for setting accounting standards to the private sector. The standards for publicly traded companies are now being written by the PCAOB. The SEC delegated the responsibility, but...
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...Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.[1] Internal auditing is a catalyst for improving an organization's governance, risk management and management controls by providing insight and recommendations based on analyses and assessments of data and business processes. With commitment to integrity and accountability, internal auditing provides value to governing bodies and senior management as an objective source of independent advice. Professionals called internal auditors are employed by organizations to perform the internal auditing activity. The scope of internal auditing within an organization is broad and may involve topics such as an organization's governance, risk management and management controls over: efficiency/effectiveness of operations (including safeguarding of assets), the reliability of financial and management reporting, and compliance with laws and regulations. Internal auditing may also involve conducting proactive fraud audits to identify potentially fraudulent acts; participating in fraud investigations under the direction of fraud investigation professionals, and conducting post investigation fraud audits to identify control breakdowns and establish financial...
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...objectivity. What is the purpose of having both a partner-in-charge and a consulting partner on each audit engagement? Should the partners be rotated periodically? Why or why not? The partner-in-charge is responsible for leading the engagement team through the audit and making decisions during the process. The partner is responsible for reviewing the team’s final work, monitoring quality control standards and maintaining the human-resource policies of the firm. It is required that partners rotate periodically. Auditing & Assurance Services states “as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the SEC independence rules require the lead and concurring audit partner to rotate off the audit engagement after five years.” (Arens, Elder, and Beasley, 2014, pg. 89) Can an accounting firm hope to accrue any real benefit from a marketing campaign such as the one carried out by Abernethy and Chapman? Should the management of a company select its auditors based on advertisements alone? All companies need to have some type of marketing strategy in place in order to be successful and generate new sources of revenue. In today’s day in age of technology, it is easier and cheaper than ever to advertise your services for a fraction of the cost. Abernethy & Chapman have the right idea by sending out newsletters to their existing clients. Word of...
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...To: Professor Moffit From: Lloyd Johnson Date: February 26, 2015 Re: Should Companies be required to rotate their auditing firms on a regular basis? As an accountant entering the modern business world, a case instilled in our minds is the Enron Scandal. For accountants, this was an embarrassing scenario and by effect brought numerous reforms, laws, and regulations. Many of these rulings are apparent in the present corporate setting. The division of accounting most affected by this scandal was the role and function of the external auditors. Auditors by trade serve in the public and stockholders interest. Furthermore, the independence of auditors is essential in performing their duties properly. As a result, which practices are needed to achieve total independence? Moreover, how do we weigh the cost of financial misstatements with the cost of redundancy due to rotation of audit firms? Demanding public companies to rotate their audit firms may appear reasonable on paper, however, this rotation brings more concerns than answers. Currently in the auditing of publicly held companies, lead audit partners are required to rotate of audits every five years. This ruling was enacted from the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Also, SOX requires a 1-year cooling off period if the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), controller, etc. was previously employed by and participated in the audit one year prior to the start of the audit. These laws were passed to promote...
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...CLASS PROJECT GM 520: BUSINESS REGULATIONS: SARBANES-OXLEY August 14, 2006 Need a Sarbanes Oxley Compliance Plan? The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, sponsored by US Senator Paul Sarbanes and US Representative Michael Oxley, represents the biggest change to federal securities laws in decades. Effective in 2006, all publicly-traded companies are required to submit an annual report of the effectiveness of their internal accounting controls to the SEC. It came as a result of the large corporate financial scandals involving Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing and Arthur Andersen. Provisions of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) detail criminal and civil penalties for noncompliance, certification of internal auditing, and increased financial disclosure. It affects public U.S. companies and non-U.S. companies with a U.S. presence. SOX is all about corporate governance and financial disclosure. High-profile business failures culminating in a media fixation on Enron called into question the effectiveness of business’ self-regulatory process as well as the effectiveness of the audit to uphold public trust in capital markets. Legislation to address shortcomings in financial reporting was slowly progressing in Congress. The sudden collapse of WorldCom guaranteed swift congressional action. President Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in to Law on July 22, 2002. The most significant legislation affecting the accounting profession since 1933. Developing...
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...report to Acme Company management on the accounting and reporting standards of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the impact that the FASB will have on Acme Company. This research covers the history and goals of the FASB, the requirements imposed by the FASB on public corporations, and the impact that the FASB has on the investment community and their satisfaction with the FASB standards. The FASB was formed in the early 1970s, when it became evident that there was a real need for a clear, concise, accurate, and uniform financial reporting system. The FASB standards are known as GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Adherence to these principles by publicly traded companies is required by and enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). GAAP is based on consistency, reliability, relevance, and comparability which help to ensure that the reports provided to all investors and creditors contain credible and accurate information. The investment community relies heavily upon the SEC and the FASB to continually monitor financial reporting systems. As times change, reporting methods need to be updated accordingly, and one of the major roles of the FASB is to stay on top of these changes and implement these necessary updates in an expeditious manner. This diligent oversight helps to keep investor confidence high, allowing the investors to focus on making informed decisions, which allows more funding opportunities for public companies....
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...Suretta Smith ACC/491 Generally Accepted Auditing Standards Paper September 25, 2012 Instructor: Santos Alarcon, Jr. Abstract The purpose of this paper will be to describe the nature and functions of auditing. The following will be addressed in this paper: description of the elements of the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS), description how these standards apply to financial, operational, and compliance audits, explanation of the effect that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), will have on audits of publicly traded companies and the discussion on the additional requirements that are placed on auditors from this Act, and the actions of the PCAOB. The generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) were implemented by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), in April of 2003. The standards were also adopted by the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which consists of ten standards that establishes the framework for conducting audits. However, the auditing standards are not detailed but guidance on what should be included in the financial statements (Boynton & Johnson, 2006). The GAAS consist of three categories that incorporate the ten standards which are general standards, standards of field work, and standards of reporting. General standards. under the general standards category, it informs about the characteristics of adequate...
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...Generally Accepted Accounting Standards Paper Prithvi Shenoy ACC491 October 14, 2013 Michael Milkonian Abstract The importance of Auditing has gained considerable attention ever since its introduction in the mid-1800s. According to FASB, Statement of Financial Accounting Concepts No. 2, relevance and reliability are central to making accounting information useful for decision makers. To achieve this, auditors are required to obtain “reasonable assurance that those financial statement are presented fairly in all material respects” (Boynton & Johnson, 2006). This paper aims to explain the nature and types of auditing which is governed by the Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS). The paper then discusses the effects of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act 2002 and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) on publicly traded companies (issuers). Finally, the changes in the auditing environment with respect to the additional responsibilities placed on auditors and PCAOB as a result of the enforcement of SOX Act 2002 is discussed in the paper. Generally Accepted Accounting Standards Paper The elements of GAAS In response to the McKesson & Robbins’ accounting scandal in 1938, the AICPA introduced the 10 Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) in 1939 to provide “guidance on the conduct of an audit” as well as an “overview of the timing of the different phases of an audit engagement” (Louwers and Ramsay et al., 2007). The 10 basic standards can be...
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...Accounting 456 Chapter 1: The demand for an auditing and assurance profession * Auditing – is the accumulation and evaluation of evidence about information to determine and report on the degree of correspondence between the information and established criteria. Auditing should be done by a competent, independent person. * Information and established criteria * To do an audit, there must be information in a verifiable form and some standards by which the auditor can evaluate the information * Canada Revenue agency auditor – an auditor who works for the Canada Revenue Agency and conducts examinations of taxpayers’ returns * Accumulating and evaluating evidence * Evidence is defined as any information used by the auditor to determine whether the information being audited is stated in accordance with the established criteria * It is important to obtain sufficient quality and volume of evidence to satisfy the audit objectives * Competent, independent person * The auditor must be qualified to understand the criteria used and competent to know the types and amount of evidence to accumulate to reach the proper conclusion after the evidence has been examined * Independent auditors – a public accountant or accounting firm that performs audits of commercial and non-commercial entities * Internal auditors – an auditor employed by a company to audit for the company’s board of directors and management ...
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...audits and external audits. Internal audit is a function that is performed by company employees; it is responsible for performing audits (both financial and non-financial) within a wide range of areas within a business, as directed by the annual audit plan. Internal audit look at key risks facing the business and what is being done to manage those risks effectively, to help the organization achieve its objectives. On the other hand External audit is an independent body which resides outside of the organization which it is auditing. Their main responsibility is to perform the annual statutory audit of the financial accounts, providing an opinion on whether they are a true and fair reflection of the company’s financial position. Audits are internal or external review of a company financial operation. Companies do not only require auditing to ensure accurate and reliable financial reporting, but also they are required by law to provide accurate and timely financial reports to their appropriate regulatory agency. Public corporations normally face more audits based on requirements from government regulatory agencies and stock exchanges. Also publicly held companies require more audits because investors and shareholders have a financial share in the company's financial returns. I think the federal laws should require internal audits to protect public because in publicly held corporations, the internal auditing function has been greatly expanded as a part of fulfilling the requirements...
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