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Why the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Came About or How to Cook the Books

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WHY THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT CAME ABOUT
OR
HOW TO COOK THE BOOKS

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbox, or SOX) was enacted on July 30, 2002, to protect the general public and shareholders from accounting errors, unethical behavior, and corporate scandal. There are 11 titles that include the requirements for reporting, retention period for records storage, management of electronic records, and standards for external auditors. The act is supervised by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, and administered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Sarbox requires the CEO and CFO to certify and be liable for the annual and quarterly reports that are filed. If the financial reports are discovered to be untrue, such acts of noncompliance are fines, imprisonment, or both, depending on the severity.
The Act was designed for publicly traded companies only, in reaction to scandals such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco. These scandals cost investors billions of dollars when the companies collapsed, or the stocks plummeted. These companies altered or destroyed records, defrauded shareholders, or “cooked the books”.
When a company cooks the books, it means that incorrect information has been used to create their financial statements. They manipulate earnings and expenses to improve the bottom line, or earnings per share (EPS). This manipulation of information is used to bring in new investors, keep the shareholders happy, attain a bonus, and reach their budget goals. Banks review these statements for loan applications. Investors and company managers use them to analyze how well the company is doing.
Accounting and Manipulation Methods One way of manipulating the books is to capitalize the expenses. If a company gets a large contract for a service or product that expands over a period of time, the revenue should be expensed over the term

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