SOX Center

Last time the public was tuned in, the Justice Department was vigorously prosecuting corporate giants such as Enron for massive frauds committed during the waning days of the stock bubble. Assisted by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, government lawyers were racking up victories in the battle against white-collar crime. One recent highlight was the October sentencing of […]

Does the PCAOB’s proposed replacement for Auditing Standard No. 2 offer too much leeway for professional judgment?
With just a few days until the comment period ends, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board got an earful from its advisory board on Thursday about the new standard for auditors’ attestation of corporate internal controls. In a nutshell, […]

From University News Services:
While corporate executives say their businesses are groaning under the weight of complying with Sarbanes-Oxley regulations, two University of Iowa business professors have found that most investors cheered the law during its early days.
Research by Sonja Rego and Haidan Li in the Tippie College of Business shows that stock market values increased […]

Comments about proposed changes to the controversial Sarbanes-Oxley law rolled in for a final day Monday, as debate about how best to implement it continued.
Monday marked the closing of the comment period for rules proposed in December by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board that aim to streamline Section […]

Today Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) called for a delayed implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 requirements for small public firms to ease the burden on complying with the expected new auditing standards. Section 404 requires firms to establish internal control frameworks and to file internal control reports. The Securities and […]

Think your private company is safe from new, stricter auditing standards because you’re not subject to Sarbanes Oxley? Feeling smug because you’re not experiencing the hassle and expense of SOX compliance? Thought you’d escaped the pain by taking your public company private?
Not so fast! Your time may have come: Statements of Auditing Standards 104-111 have […]

A federal judge has dismissed a proposed shareholder class action lawsuit charging that MBIA Inc. defrauded investors by using sham reinsurance transactions to mask a $170 million bond loss in 1998.
U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton ruled Tuesday that the suit is barred by the two-year statute of limitations in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Armonk, N.Y.-based financial […]

Despite professions of independence, the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation has been accused of being sympathetic to the Bush Administration.
To anyone who has ever grumbled about shareholder lawsuits or Sarbanes-Oxley, last fall’s debut of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation should have been welcome. Comprising 22 members from the worlds of business, law, and academia, […]

Shareholders and board members should prepare for record turnover among Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) in 2007, according to a new survey from executive services firm Tatum, LLC. Data from the survey suggests that compliance headaches such as Sarbanes-Oxley requirements and unrealistic demands from board members and CEOs will drive more than 2,300 CFOs from their […]

Increasing market liberalization and the development of European Union and Asian capital markets are undermining New York’s position as the premier provider of global finance.
The relative weight and competitiveness of financial centers in the global economy is a major concern for national and local policymakers. In recent years, London, New York’s main competitor, has been […]