Finance and Accounting for NonFinancial Managers, 3rd Edition

Appendix B: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

In light of a number of corporate scandals in the late 1900s, U.S. Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in an effort to restore faith in the accounting and reporting practices of public corporations. The Act seeks to direct the behavior of companies and managers according to a legally defined standard, with specifically prescribed requirements for reporting and confirmation of financial information; mandated senior executive confirmation and certification of reporting accuracy and reliability; and independent confirmation, not only of fair representation of financial information, but also of the systems and procedures that produce that information. The legislation also precludes the continuation ...