In the wake of economic scandal and the downturn of America’s economy, the Sarbanes-Oxley act and the Dodd-Frank act have attempted to reinforce and uphold the single most important virtue that our capitalist society so desperately depends on, trust. Many of the following names are familiar to us all by now, and for the wrong reasons: Enron, Lehman Brothers, World-Com, and Tyco. So what have SOX and DOD actually accomplished for our capitalist society? What can they actually do to help avert such catastrophic situations in the future? Let us begin with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Under the watchful eye of the Securities Exchange Commission the Sarbanes-Oxley act strives to protect the investing public from fraudulent and erroneous accounting practices, in addition to improving the accuracy of public financial statements. The act has transformed the world of accounting by: creating the PCAOB (Title I), increasing an auditor’s independence (Title II), increasing the responsibility/liability of a company’s senior management (Title III), enhanced financial statement disclosure requirements (Title IV), eliminating analyst conflicts of interest (Section V), increasing corporate and criminal fraud accountability (Section VIII), enhancing white–collar crime penalties (Title IX), increasing the responsibility/liability for corporate tax returns (Title X), and increasing the responsibility for corporate fraud and accountability (Title XI). There are several more provisions that comprise the act, but those mentioned are the “heavy hitters” of SOX.
The PCAOB’s purpose for existence is to increase investor confidence. It is classified as a “non-profit” organization charged with inspecting the audits of public companies and “broker-dealers”, as well as any reports that fall under the jurisdiction of securities laws. The PCAOB aims to increase said confidence and trust by