...Introduction Authored in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandal, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted in 2002, to keep public entities from committing fraudulent financial practices. The name Sarbanes-Oxley derives from former Senator Paul Sarbanes and former Representative Michael Oxley. “The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was signed into law by President Bush on July 30, 2002, and created a new private sector, nonprofit corporation-the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)-to oversee the financial reporting of public companies. Among other changes, SOX's sweeping reforms required that a company strengthen auditor independence; have its chief executives sign off on the financial statements; obtain an opinion about its internal control systems; and have an internal audit function that is examined by external auditors” (Grumet, 2007). Part A Audit Committees The Sarbanes-Oxley Act affects audit committees of public company boards of directors. The committee of the board of directors is directly responsible for the public company financial statements, in addition to the appointment, compensation, and oversight of the work of any registered public accounting firm employed by that issuer. In the case of misunderstanding between management team and the auditor’s regarding financial reporting, it is the audit committee’s responsibility to get everyone involved on the same page. In addition, the audit committees need to monitor all financial information communicated...
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...Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002 LAW/412 July 25, 2014 Instructor Jacques Ward Congress Should Repeal the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Most commentators agree that the SOX Act provided the most sweeping and comprehensive amendments to the ’33 and ’34 Acts in securities law history. (Melvin, 2011 pg. 423) On the other hand, William A. Niskanen believed different. Individuals found it difficult to swallow the Act because it was believe to only be enacted so government official could feel better about confronting only a few points of popular concern instead of resolving the matter. According to Niskanen the SOX act of 2002 is unnecessary, harmful, and inadequate (Niskanen, 2006). Lengthy terms of incarceration and seizure of personal property are penalties under the SOX Act. The act was viewed as unnecessary because the stock exchange had already put into action a policy to address most of the problems given in the SOX Act. Those policies include accounting standards, prosecution for fraud, audits, and financial reporting procedures. Officials believed that both acts handled the same issues. Therefore; congress should deem the SOX act of 2002 unnecessary. The SOX act of 2002 was regarded as damaging because it would “reduce the incentive of corporate executives and directors to seek legal advice” (Niskanen, 2006). It was also seen as prejudicial because it created prohibitions on loans to corporate officers that would create complications for reparation. The act was considered to...
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...Auditor independence refers to the position of the external auditor’s level of personal and financial ties to a particular organization which can sometimes be complex. When deciding whether to accept an auditing engagement, one must judge their independence and objectivity. This is why integrity is imperative in business, especially within the world of audit. Congress passed the law, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) that applies to publicly held companies and their auditors. It was intended to protect investors by improving accuracy within the laws of the government (SEC, 2001). In addition, it also assists in prevention of financial statement fraud and make items more transparent for protection of the organization. To achieve these parameters,...
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...In response to the many scandals in corporate financial reporting, the United States Congress passed legislature in 2002 that required publicly traded companies to contain within each annual report an internal control report. The internal control report requires companies to state the responsibility of management for establishing and maintaining an adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting. The internal control report must also contain an assessment of the effectiveness of the internal control structure and procedures of the issuer for financial reporting. These rules are referred to as and contained in Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (“SOX”). This paper will touch upon an introduction to the SOX Act,...
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...What exactly is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? Who does it protect? Who benefits from SOX most? I will discuss what the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is its key components, and its primary objective. Also, I will discuss the criticisms surrounding the SOX act. Why it is important to enforce the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Finally, I will discuss if the SOX has achieved its goals. The main purpose of Sarbanes Oxley Act is to ensure that the corporate sector works with transparency and provides full disclosure of information as and when required (Bing, 2007). This basically means that corporations must keep good records of what goes on in their business, not just for their benefit, but just in case of an audit, then they’ll have all their transactions ready to be reviewed and to keep future corporate scandals down. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed by Congress on July 30, 2002. The law forced public companies to spend much more money having their books thoroughly audited, and it increased the penalties for executives who defrauded investors. Since the bill's passage and implementation, nervous investors who had yanked trillions of dollars from the market have returned (Farrell, 2007). The men behind the Sarbanes-Oxley Act consist of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, New York Stock Exchange CEO John Thain and former AIG chief Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. Even though their voices my appear to be isolated, Charles Niemeier a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board...
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...What exactly is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? Who does it protect? Who benefits from SOX most? I will discuss what the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is its key components, and its primary objective. Also, I will discuss the criticisms surrounding the SOX act. Why it is important to enforce the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Finally, I will discuss if the SOX has achieved its goals. The main purpose of Sarbanes Oxley Act is to ensure that the corporate sector works with transparency and provides full disclosure of information as and when required (Bing, 2007). This basically means that corporations must keep good records of what goes on in their business, not just for their benefit, but just in case of an audit, then they’ll have all their transactions ready to be reviewed and to keep future corporate scandals down. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed by Congress on July 30, 2002. The law forced public companies to spend much more money having their books thoroughly audited, and it increased the penalties for executives who defrauded investors. Since the bill's passage and implementation, nervous investors who had yanked trillions of dollars from the market have returned (Farrell, 2007). The men behind the Sarbanes-Oxley Act consist of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, New York Stock Exchange CEO John Thain and former AIG chief Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. Even though their voices my appear to be isolated, Charles Niemeier a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board...
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...Exchange Commission (SEC) has mandated that auditing for organizations must be completed by independent accountants. Today scrutiny of the accounting industry is more intense as laws are created to punish those that choose to falsify information. This paper aims to explain the importance of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) as it relates to the internal control, Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers. We will also identify the pros and cons of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and changes that could be made in order to pose arguments from both sides of the act. Introduction In the early 2000’s, one of the darkest times ever experienced in the history of accounting occurred due to numerous scandals. The results of these scandals from companies lead to terrifying actions, which included the downfall of one of the largest accounting corporations, Arthur Anderson, for their help with Enron. Companies such as Enron, Tyco, and WorldCom have led to the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) due to their financial reporting scandals (Forbes, 2013). With the passing of SOX in 2002, the falsification of financial statements by companies became a criminal offense. The passing of the SOX act posed as a challenge to many companies as it enforced businesses to make ethical decisions. If companies fail to comply with this law, they will be accountable for their actions. Prosecution and jail time are some of the punishments put in effect if CEOs and CFOs are found guilty of...
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...The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 The Act & Impact ACC 410, Jackie Lewis, Ph.D. Abstract The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, officially named the “Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002”, is recognized to be the most noteworthy U.S. federal disclosure and corporate governance legislation since the Securities Act of1933 (the Securities Act) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act). Furthermore, the provisions of the Act are momentous enough that it is considered by many to be the most significant change to the federal securities laws in the U.S. since the New Deal. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 The Act & Impact The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was signed into law following the wake of corporate financial scandals. Many large companies such as Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Anderson were affected. The Act provides a solid set of government rules that are aimed to discourage and punish corporate and accounting fraud, as well as corruption. SOX is designed to carry out these tasks by imposing severe penalties for wrong doings, while protecting the interest of workers and shareholders. The stated purposed to protect investors is maintained by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures, imposing strict rules for audits and auditors of publically traded companies, preventing insider trading and deals, requiring companies to adopt strict internal controls, and increasing the penalties...
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...| Dr. Jennifer Scott | | | Ethics in Business | Case Study: A primer on Sarbanes- Oxley | <Add Learner comments here> ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Faculty Use Only ------------------------------------------------- <Faculty comments here> ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- <Faculty Name> <Grade Earned> <Writing Score> <Date Graded> Case Study: A primer on Sarbanes-Oxley Leona M. Anderson Dr. Jennifer Scott Northcentral University A Primer on Sarbanes-Oxley Introduction The problem to be investigated is whether Sarbanes-Oxley has helped to improve public trust in the markets and reduce non-ethical practices in business. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was passed by the 107th Congress on July 30, 2002 (Sarbanes-Oxley, 2002) to provide protection to investors and shareholders as a result of fraudulent activities by some U.S. Corporations such as Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and Adelphia, as well as other public companies (Jennings, 2012; Scott & Nganje, 2011). SOX introduced major regulatory changes which affect financial practice and corporate governance; and compliance is mandatory for ALL organizations (Guide to Sarbanes-Oxley, 2006). SOX is actually Public Law 107-204 and it is divided into eleven different parts...
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...Adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Accounting 100: Accounting I March 19, 2011 Strayer University Adoption of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, commonly called the SOX, is a United States federal law that was passed in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals (veracode.com/solutions/sox-compliance.html, 2011). The act was passed to strengthen corporate governance and restore investor confidence. It was sponsored by US Senator Paul Sarbanes and US Representative Michael Oxley. The act was passed in response to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals, the most popular being Enron, in the United States (audit-is.com/legislation/sox.htm, 2011). As a result of Enron’s scandal and public bankruptcy, congress passed the act which required all public companies that have business in the United States to have an accounting framework (Nelson & Stanley, 2011). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act made it mandatory for all public companies to contain internal financial auditing controls and to present the results in annual assessments. The results must be reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on an annual basis. Furthermore, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires all public companies to have an external auditor. The external auditor will audit the company’s internal control reports of management and their financial statements (Baker, Bealing Jr, Nelson & Stanley, 2011). In this...
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...Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 U.S. Senator Paul Sarbnes of Maryland and U.S. Representative Michael Oxley of Ohio followed a series of corporate failures, which inacted the SOX Act based on Enron’s bankruptcy and other key organizations such as Worldcom, Tyco, Xerox, and Adelphia who were among the United States organizations executives in the headlines for misdemeanors and multi-billion dollar reassertions," (Dembinski, Lager, Cornford, Bonvin, 2005). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, (SOX) was incorporated to strengthen the internal improvements and oversight of corporate control. The primary purpose is to shield and protect shareholders from fradualent activities within the public sector and the stock market. The table below provides a list of a few provisions implemented in SOX Act. Section 302 | Section 401 | Section 404 | Section 409 | Section 802 | Requires that corporate administration confirm that they have assessed the financial reports. | Requires that financial reports include disclosure about any applicable off-balance sheet responsibilities that may exist. | Requires organizations to state whether or not the business's internal mechanism technique are sufficient and operative. | Requires administration to update the public of important budgetary matters when they occur, instead of waiting until the annual or quarterly report. | Imposes penalties for abuses of the SOX rules, which could lead to fines or some jail time. | A description...
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...Sarika Bond Auditing-Ambler Short Essay #2 November 3, 2009 Sarbanes-Oxley Act Provisions Publicly held companies are mandated to specific regulations of Sarbanes-Oxley Act; while privately held and non-profit companies are not specifically required to adopt the provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). I don’t agree with private companies adopting the entire provision of Sarbanes-Oxley Act. I do support adopting certain parts of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act provision. It is cost prohibitive for private and nonprofit companies, especially for small private companies. Private companies and non-profit companies do not have to adopt the provision of Sarbanes-Oxley act, but they may pick and choose part of the governing principals that apply to them. There are advantages and disadvantages to adopting The Sarbanes-Oxley Act for private and non-profit companies. The advantages are that private companies that intend to go public in the future have already established an auditing committee, a whistleblower protection policy, and improved internal controls. The disadvantages are it is costly to adopt Sarbanes-Oxley Acts and requires hiring an outside independent auditor. It also creates more paperwork, such as checklist full of questions. My main argument with not adopting the entire Sarbanes-Oxley Act is that it is very costly for small private companies. “A survey of more than 300 public companies by Financial Executives International determined an average, first-year compliance...
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...Sarbanes Oxley Act Article Review Amber Means LAW 421 November 24, 2014 Jane Schneider Sarbanes Oxley Act Article Review Corporate fraud and mismanagement scandals in publically held companies, along with the public outcry for stricter regulations and accountability in early 2000 led to the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX Act) of 2002. The primary purpose of the SOX Act is to overhaul the structure of corporate governance regulatory structure and impose stricter regulation and controls on the auditing, financial reporting and internal corporate governance procedures of corporations (Melvin, 2011). Significant portions of the Act are aimed towards creating solutions for specific failures in the auditing and accounting procedures of publically held companies. The Act also increased the jurisdiction, enforcement alternatives and enforcement budget of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) substantially (Melvin, 2011). The SOX Act of 2002 was implemented to effectively end corruption within publically held companies and restore the faith of investors in the corporate system, but how well is it working? The following is summary of the article “Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 (SOX) – 10 years later” which discusses the intentions of the SOX Act, the corruption and legislative environment which led to its implementation, and how its implementation has affected corporations and investors. History of legislation Prior to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002, the Securities...
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... The Cost and Benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley/ Forbes ARTICLE SYNOPSIS Sarbanes Oxley Act is “an act passed by U.S. Congress in 2002 to protect investors from the possibility of fraudulent accounting activities by corporations” (“Sarbanes Oxley Act,” 2015). In the review of “The Cost and Benefits of Sarbanes Oxley”, the article started out speaking on how the SOX Act 2002 was designed to protect investors, but many felt as if it was politically motivated. This Act will cause to lose risk takers and competiveness. In today’s business environment, the Sarbanes Oxley Act molded the ethical standpoint to numerous companies. The SOX Act 2002 was designed to keep companies honest. The criminal penalty for this law is a fine and/ or 25 years, but no more than 25 years. The stiff punishment minimized the fraudulent ideas from individuals and firms. The SOX Act 2002 increased the consumer confidence. “We only know that there were benefits in terms of financial reporting and corporate governance; that costs of implementation were higher for smaller companies; and that concerns about risk-taking and investment haven’t come to bear” (“The Cost and Benefit of Sarbanes and Oxley,” 2014, p. 1). This article also goes and talk about the cost and benefits of the Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002. SOX restrictions pushed several fraud-prone companies to go private. These was mainly the smaller companies that were fraud prone. I believe overall Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002 was good for the consumer...
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...Running head: THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 1 The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Matthew Gurniak University of Maryland University College Author Note This paper was prepared for AMBA 630, Section 9046, taught by Professor Wylie. Introduction American investors lost confidence in the American market, as a result of several large companies falsifying financial statements. In response to this matter, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in the year of 2002 (Rehbein, 2010, p.90). Though there are many benefits that have come out of SOX, many argue that there are several issues that should be addressed. As a team we will discuss the main advantages and disadvantages of the act, the effect the act has had on CEO’s and CFO’s of publicly held companies, how the act has affected the function of internal controls within organizations, and what changes should be made to act. What Are the Main Advantages and Disadvantages of SOX? The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has many advantages. There are repeated ethical scandals in business and the majority of the time “ethics and the law run parallel” to each other (Livingstone, 2009, P. 4). The SOX is the first step in holding companies accountable and is a model for accounting practice reform. The SOX controls auditors’ independence and responsibility by fighting business fraud and improving corporate governance. Tsui (2009) stated that “the SOX increases personal liabilities of senior management...
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