Sarbanes-Oxley Act Essay Example for Free

Sarbanes-Oxley Act Essay From the e-Activity, recommend how the SOX framework can ensure reliable and complete financial information and how accounting professionals have benefitted from its use. Provide support for your response. Evaluate how the SOX has reinforced investors’ and creditors’ confidence in companies and how these individuals can take steps to verify the accuracy of the financial statements of potential investments or loans. Provide support for your rationale. Answer: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was signed into law on July 30, 2002. Passed in response to the corporate and accounting scandals of Enron, Tyco, and others of 2001 and 2002, the laws purpose is to rebuild public trust in Americas corporate sector. The law requires that publicly traded companies adhere to significant new governance standards that broaden board members roles in overseeing financial transactions and auditing procedures. While nearly all of the provisions of the Act apply only to publicly traded Corporations, the passage of the bill served as a wake-up call to the entire nonprofit community. Indeed, several state legislatures have already passed or are considering legislation containing elements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to be applied to nonprofit organizations. In many instances, nonprofit organizations have adopted policies and altered governance practices in response to the Act. Nonprofit leaders should look carefully at the provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley, as well as their states laws, and determine whether their organizations ought to voluntarily adopt governance best practices, even if not mandated by law. This report will review those provisions and assess their relevance to nonprofit organizations. Finally, it is important to note that two provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley apply to all entities, including nonprofit organizations. This report will also review those features of the Act that require immediate nonprofit compliance.