SOX Center

Sarbanes-Oxley, the U.S. law designed to stamp out corporate fraud, is prompting more companies to keep secrets in the bond market.
Siemens AG, Australian retailer Woolworths Ltd., Miller Brewing Co. of Milwaukee and at least 100 other companies are selling bonds that aren’t registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission instead of debt that requires more […]

Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., unveiled legislation Wednesday to revise a 2002 law intended to clean up U.S. corporate accounting, which he says has had unintended consequences and may be driving some U.S. firms overseas.
Garrett’s bill seeks to reduce companies’ costs of complying with the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act while giving the White House and Congress more […]

Will companies and their auditors ever agree on how to test information technology systems for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance? The Institute of Internal Auditors hopes its new guidelines on IT controls will help.
Since companies began complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, one common complaint about auditor scrutiny has been loud and clear: external auditors have spent too much […]

The Office and Professional Employees International Union yesterday filed to intervene in a rate hike request by Washington Gas Light Co., saying it planned to protest the proposal out of concern that the company may hire outside contractors to replace customer service workers, which the union represents.
The company requested a rate increase of 7.7 percent […]

Finance chiefs of the world’s seven richest nations agreed over the weekend to look at ways to cut back on overlapping regulations for companies doing business internationally while at the same time recognizing each nation’s unique rules and standards.
The agreement by the finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 to try to harmonize […]

Auditors are doing a far better job of detecting corporate fraud since the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, while whistle-blowing by employees has declined, a new academic study concludes.
The U.S. law, adopted amid corporate accounting scandals at firms such as Enron Corp., spurred a four-fold increase in auditors uncovering fraud, according to the report. The study of […]

The structure of employee health plans often obscures the view of benefit costs and internal controls that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act demands.
Among the many compliance perils created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, one of the least talked about could well be the act’s effect on corporate health-benefit programs.
The lack of discussion is understandable. To be […]

In response to Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Peregrine and some of the biggest accounting firms playing a shell games with the corporate books, Congress enacted The Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002.
Today Siemens, based in Munich, Germany is being eyed for over 500 million dollars worth of bribes to public officials in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa and […]

Commissioner Paul Atkins delivered a speech at the Corporate Directors Forum and as usual, unleashed himself on one of his favorite topics: Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Atkins, like the Paulson Committee and Bloomberg/Schumer, worried about the U.S. markets’ place in the world rather than investor information - as if the two were mutually […]

Converium announces a revision of the publication date of full year 2006 results to March 20, 2007. The date is two weeks ahead of the previous provisional date of publication. The publication date has been brought forward as a result of improved internal financial procedures and the Company’s good progress towards fulfilling its Sarbanes Oxley […]