Sarbanes oxley act

How do you start a Sarbanes - Oxley Act research paper? Our expert writers suggest like this:

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOA) was enacted by Congress as a reaction to the major accounting scandals of 2001 and 2002 that led to the collapses of a number of formerly high-flying U.S. corporations such as Enron and Global Crossing. According to Falis and Rosselot, over 700 publicly traded companies have been forced to restate earnings over the past two years as a result of "misleading or outright fraudulent accounting practices. Further, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently concluded that the annual reports of a "substantial majority" of Fortune 500 companies "raise questions concerning inaccurate of misleading disclosure, questionable accounting policies or similar concerns".

In reaction to the aforementioned scandals and otherwise deficient financial reporting, the SOA required the SEC to enact regulations in a number of spheres, increasing the types of financial transactions that must be publicly reported and regulating the auditing process and the activities that can be performed by auditors and other financial professionals. These regulations cover the following:

1. Auditor independence
2. Work paper retention
3. Improper influence of auditors
4. Accounting for off-balance sheet arrangements
5. Other contractual and contingent liabilities
6. The use of non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) financial measures
7. Internal controls
8. Codes of ethics
9. The status of financial experts on audit committees

The major regulations should be described in your term paper from Paper Masters.