Former President Bush Signed in SOX

Former President Bush signed in to law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 on July 30, 2002. President Bush describes the act as “the most far reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

Named after it two main authors, Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley, this act followed a series of very high profile scandals, such as Enron, Worldcom, and Author Andersen. As quoted by President Bush the act is to “deter and punish corporate and accounting fraud and corruption, ensure justice for wrongdoers, and protect the interests of workers and shareholders”.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is made up of eleven titles that address corporate and accounting fraud, financial disclosures, and corporate responsibility. Sections 302, 404, 401, 409, 802 and 906 are the most significant with respect to compliance and internal control. Of all the sections, Sarbanes Oxley section 404 seems to cause the most concern. The Act also created a public company accounting oversight board also known as the PCAOB, to oversee the activities of the auditing profession.

The full text of the Act is available at:
http://www.sec.gov/about/laws/soa2002.pdf

You can find links to all Commission rulemaking and reports issued under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act at:
http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/sarbanes-oxley.htm .

A complete list of SEC public forms can be found at :
http://www.sec.gov/about/forms/secforms.htm

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