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The Sabanes-Oxley Act

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The Sabanes-Oxley Act passed by Congress in July 2002 has been described “as the most sweeping and significant change in securities law since the 1930's” (Parles, 2007). This act was largely in response to the highly publicized scandals of companies such as Enron and Worldcom. The “goal of SOX [is] to ensure the accuracy and reliability of financial information of companies trading on public markets” (Parles, 2007). While this act was written quickly in response to a crisis and is only 66 pages its effect on companies in the United States is lasting (10 YEARS AFTER, 2012). Some of the provisions of the Sabanes-Oxley Act include: certification by CEOs and CFOs of company financial reports, prohibition of any form of personal loans to executives …show more content…
For example, it is stated that “corporate governance scandals are still commonplace, Green Mountain Coffee, Chesapeake Energy, Wal-Mart, and Groupon being among the latest examples. The fact is that Sarbanes-Oxley was well-intentioned but didn't address the real problem with corporate governance--boards of directors” (Allen, 2012) by citing these recent corporate scandals and other such as the fall of investment bank Lehman Brothers it establishes there are flaws within the act that make it impossible to limit all scandals. In addition, it is argued that there is not enough governance in term of board members. Allen suggests possible remedies for this including provisions that require set term limit, a limit on public company board service, and required continuing education of board members (Allen, 2012). Additionally in response to studies done on the effectiveness of ethics post Sabanes-Oxley, president of the Ethics Resource center, Patrician Harned, Ph. D states “Despite new regulations and significant efforts to reduce misconduct and increase reporting when it does occur, the ethics risk landscape in American business is as treacherous as it was before implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002” (Did Enron and SOX Change Ethical Behavior at U.S. Cos?, …show more content…
Although there are still highly publicized scandals they do not have a bearing on the success of SOX, it is impossible to eliminate all scandals, but SOX has done its job in protecting the consumer from scandals of the size of Enron that greatly hurt the American public. Oxley states “We learned an important lesson about transparency in corporate governance, and because of that we instituted essential reforms aimed at restoring confidence in the system and preventing such disasters from happening again” and that “Sarbanes-Oxley has been able to restore investor confidence because it rebuilt and strengthened the two most vital pillars of corporate governance: transparency and accountability” (Oxley,

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