The authors argue that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) is a colossal failure, yet seek to salvage some lessons from the ruins of SOX.

This Abstract introduces the authors' new book, The Sarbanes-Oxley Debacle: What We've Learned; How to Fix It (The AEI Press 2006). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (quot;SOXquot;) is a colossal failure, poorly conceived and hastily enacted during a regulatory panic. Everyone now concedes that the direct compliance costs of SOX have been much greater than anticipated. While that alone should give any serious policy analyst pause, the Act's defenders press the case that SOX was worth its problems. This book demonstrates that the supporters are wrong in their assessment: Both logic and evidence make it clear that SOX was a costly mistake.

This unique volume presents policy recommendations designed to promote entrepreneurship. It considers timely issues like impact of securities regulation, educational policy and intellectual property protection on entrepreneurship. In the process, the book addresses policies operating at the individual, national, regional, and international levels, and offers a unique perspective on several institutional structures that enhance entrepreneurship and economic growth.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, PL 107-204 described by some as the most important and far-reaching securities legislation since passage of the Securities Act of 1933, 15 USC §§ 77a et seq, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, 15 USC §§ 78a et seq, both of which were passed in the wake of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. The Act establishes a new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board which is to be supervised by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Act restricts accounting firms from performing a number of other services for the companies which they audit. The Act also requires new disclosures for public companies and the officers and directors of those companies. Among the other issues affected by the new legislation are securities fraud, criminal and civil penalties for violating the securities laws and other laws, blackouts for insider trades of pension fund shares, and protections for corporate whistleblowers. This book contains important analyses on the impact of this Act.

Diploma Thesis from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: Sehr Gut (Grade: A), Vienna University of Economics and Business (Management Accounting and Auditing), 117 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The present thesis examines the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOA) on European companies and identifies their attitude towards its provisions. To raise the information needed, from May until the end of June 2005 all affected European companies (290) received access to the online questionnaire. Overall nearly twenty percent responded to the questionnaire. The following key findings have been identified: •The smaller a company is, the more problems it has to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. •The degree of the top management’s involvement in the compliance process plays a crucial role. •Almost every company has a formal code of ethics in place, but their senior management does not communicate it enough to their employees. •Almost every company has a whistleblower hotline in place to let all employees raise ethics and compliance issues and many of them also indicate that it allows an anonymous, confidential reporting and follow-up on raised issues. Only 30 percent of the hotlines were managed by an outside third party. •Most of the companies believe that the compliance costs have exceeded the benefits in 2004, but a positive trend - after the first compliance - towards the benefits can be identified. All in all, the thesis provides a representative overview on the SOA compliance situation of European companies.

A Brookings Institution Press and American Enterprise Institute publication A few years ago, Americans held out their systems of corporate governance and financial disclosure as models to be emulated by the rest of the world. But in late 2001 U.S. policymakers and corporate leaders found themselves facing the largest corporate accounting scandals in American history. The spectacular collapses of Enron and Worldcom—as well as the discovery of accounting irregularities at other large U.S. companies—seemed to call into question the efficacy of the entire system of corporate governance in the United States. In response, Congress quickly enacted a comprehensive package of reform measures in what has come to be known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ followed by making fundamental changes to their listing requirements. The private sector acted as well. Accounting firms—watching in horror as one of their largest, Arthur Andersen, collapsed after a criminal conviction for document shredding—tightened their auditing procedures. Stock analysts and ratings agencies, hit hard by a series of disclosures about their failings, changed their practices as well. Will these reforms be enough? Are some counterproductive? Are other shortcomings in the disclosure system still in need of correction? These are among the questions that George Benston, Michael Bromwich, Robert E. Litan, and Alfred Wagenhofer address in Following the Money. While the authors agree that the U.S. system of corporate disclosure and governance is in need of change, they are concerned that policymakers may be overreacting in some areas and taking actions in others that may prove to be ineffective or even counterproductive. Using the Enron case as a point of departure, the authors argue that the major problem lies not in the accounting and auditing standards themselves, but in the system of enforcing those standards.

A step-by-step approach for planning and performing an assessment of internal controls Filled with specific guidance for small-business compliance to SEC and PCAOB requirements relating to Sarbanes-Oxley 404, Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404: A Guide for Small Publicly Held Companies provides you with specific guidance on working with auditors to achieve benefits and cost reductions. This practical guide helps you knowledgeably interpret and conform to Sarbanes-Oxley 404 compliance and features: Clear, jargon-free coverage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and how it affects you Links to current guidance online Specific guidance to companies on how to work with auditors to achieve benefits and cost reductions Coverage of IT and IT general controls Examples and action plans providing blueprints for implementing requirements of the act Easy-to-understand coverage of the requirements of the SEC and PCAOB Discussion of the requirements for assessing internal control effectiveness A look at how the new guidance will reduce your costs In-depth explanations to help professionals understand how best to approach the internal control engagement Practice aids, including forms, checklists, illustrations, diagrams, and tables Continuing to evolve and bring about business and cultural change, this area of auditing and corporate governance is demystified in Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404: A Guide for Small Publicly Held Companies, your must-have, must-own guide to SOX 404 implementation and an effective tool and reference guide for every corporate manager.