Professor Darlene Green-Connor ACC 403 November 27, 2012 Sarbanes-Oxley Act The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was put in place by Congress in 2002 in response to the financial fraud committed by multiple corporations. The main objective of the Act was to restore faith in investors whom experienced financial losses due to the financial fraud committed by the corporations. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, also known as SOX, contains many laws and regulations that must be followed by small and large companies. Some of the results of the SOX are: external auditors gained more independence in reviewing corporate financial statements for accuracy, the board of directors’ oversight role was increased, upper management is required to certify the accuracy of financial
PCAOB, The Future of 404 Scott Carlson Mark Geiger Evallory Spratlin Kimberly Williams Liberty University Abstract Since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was implemented, small businesses have objected to what they describe as severe financial impacts, which are a byproduct of Rule 404 of the act. This paper will explore the allegations of small businesses, Congress’ response and what this dialogue means for the future of the Sarbanes-Oxley. The implications of this research are important because they have bearing on future regulation in the financial industry. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is a comprehensive bill that has proven to be a work in progress since its passage. The necessity of the bill can hardly be disputed
Khristine Jackson Week 2 Homework July 19, 2014 The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was a direct output of the financial statement fraud that sank industry giants such as Enron and WorldCom. 1) What are the primary goals and tenets of SOX with respect to fraud? The primary goals and tenets of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) are to concentrate on improving the value of audits in an effort to remove fraud in order to keep the public’s attention as well as for the security of investors. In addition, SOX requests corporate management to be more accountable for both fraud prevention and detection. Similarly, corporate board is also more responsible for the occurrence of fraud with the company; under SOX, those who contribute in
How might a company be rewarded or punished for making an ethical or unethical decision? DQ 3: Review the case study “It Seems Right in Theory but Does It Work in Practice?” in Perspectives in Business Ethics. How is ethical theory applied in practice? DQ 4: Review the case study “Where and Why Did Business Ethicists Go Wrong? The Case of Dow Corning Corporation’ in Perspectives in Business ethics.
Ethicality of Accounting Activities The WorldCom case is an example of unethical behavior performed by a company by abusing accounting activities to reflect misleading financial information. In this case the main cause of this unethical behavior is greed and neglect by the executives that allowed and encouraged this behavior. On the other hand, WorldCom employee Cynthia Cooper is a prime example of ethical behavior that took place to uncover the wrong doing of individuals. Upon reading an article of a former financial analyst, Cynthia Copper’s mind was intrigued, an audit was conducted on capital spending. In the WorldCom and Cynthia Cooper case unethical behavior was evident in multiple departments and involved top key players that tried to cover up the fraud.
The following is the topic for this week's team assignment: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) signed into law in July 2002 was intended to improve the accuracy of the financial statements prepared by publicly held companies. Carefully read the summary of this Act. A. Discuss how this law is likely to affects issues of : Audit committees of public company boards of directors Increased the workload and the integrity of these officials has fired some officials and made it a more rigorous job to pursue because of the seriousness of the day to day operations The act created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to police the accounting profession and set auditing standards. It shored up the role of the audit committee, making it
In addition, if a CEO/ CFO do not meet these requirements they can be criminally sanctions; which could include jail time reach up to 20 years if found guilty of willful neglect. Furthermore, a CEO/ CFO must understand the implications of section 303 in that improper influence or misleading of auditors can also render finical statements misleading, it is therefore to the CEO/CFO’s advantage to hire and retain highly capable and ethical auditors to ensure the company’s accuracy financial reporting, it is the CEO/CFO’s responsibility to set up “internal control over financial reporting” (White & Case LLP, 2003). The auditors responsible must ensure the internal controls
SOX Reforms Corporate America The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) enacted July 30, 2002 introduced significant changes to financial practice and corporate management regulation. Passed in the wake of numerous scandals SOX is a complex piece of legislation that requires companies to make major changes to bring their organizations into compliance (Bumgardner 2). Many believe this act has not proven worthy and will not change effect in the business world, but I think this act will help businesses and outside investing. The act holds top executives personally responsible for the accuracy and timelines of their company’s financial data — under threat of criminal prosecution. Sox address weaknesses with internal issues, requiring yearly
Running head: SARBANES-OXLEY LAW Sarbanes-Oxley Law Alexandria B. Lover Liberty University ACCT 302-B03 Abstract Since 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has been in place to not only raise awareness for employees and investors but also improve the management of internal controls in public corporations. Under the law, CEOs and CFOs are solely responsible for the accuracy of the financial reporting by their companies as well as the internal control structure to include fines and criminal prosecution if consciously falsified. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed as a response to the Enron fiasco in an attempt to protect investors from corporate accounting fraud. The Act, which is officially known as Public Company
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Corporate America took a hard blow to the chin when the reality of bad accounting practices, fraud, embezzling, and other criminal activities took center stage on every media outlet worldwide around the turn of the millennium. American’s began to see firsthand exactly what types of people were running some of the largest organizations in the country and how greed and power could ruin lives. Along with these eye opening realizations, our elected officials were forced to create a way of holding Corporate America accountable for their accounting and business practices and to ensure that the criminal activity that brought down several of the nation’s largest organizations, costing taxpayers millions of dollars