Sarbanes–Oxley Act
2002 U.S. law regarding corporate accounting / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 is a United States federal law that mandates certain practices in financial record keeping and reporting for corporations. The act, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 107–204 (text) (PDF), 116 Stat. 745, enacted July 30, 2002, also known as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act" (in the Senate) and "Corporate and Auditing Accountability, Responsibility, and Transparency Act" (in the House) and more commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley, SOX or Sarbox, contains eleven sections that place requirements on all U.S. public company boards of directors and management and public accounting firms. A number of provisions of the Act also apply to privately held companies, such as the willful destruction of evidence to impede a federal investigation.
Long title | An Act To protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and for other purposes. |
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Nicknames | Sarbanes–Oxley, Sarbox, SOX |
Enacted by | the 107th United States Congress |
Citations | |
Public law | Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 107–204 (text) (PDF) |
Statutes at Large | 116 Stat. 745 |
Codification | |
Acts amended | Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Securities Act of 1933, Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Title 18 of the United States Code, Title 28 of the United States Code |
Titles amended | 15, 18, 28, 29 |
Legislative history | |
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United States Supreme Court cases | |
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The law was enacted as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals, including Enron and WorldCom. The sections of the bill cover responsibilities of a public corporation's board of directors, add criminal penalties for certain misconduct, and require the Securities and Exchange Commission to create regulations to define how public corporations are to comply with the law.[1]