PROTECTING FINANCIAL INFORMATION: SARBANES-OXLEY

Undoubtedly, The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, also known as Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), is having a major impact on corporate culture and various operational aspects of companies subject to SOX. SOX legislates a far reaching framework to be used as the basis for ensuring the integrity and accuracy of public company financial statements. Boards of directors and executive management, the actual sponsors of a company’s SOX initiatives, now have a vested interest in the integrity and transparency of the financial process leading to financial statement accuracy due to stiff civil and criminal penalties for non-compliance to SOX. In the end, public companies and the accounting profession will now have to answer to the higher demand of accuracy, reliability and fairness in the financial statements that provide the basis for trust in the financial markets.