Sarbanes-Oxley Act Essay

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Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
James Gauck
ACC/290
December 17, 2012
Susan Laymon

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
On July 30, 2002, President Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Act-which applies in general to publicly held companies and their audit firms-dramatically affects the accounting profession and impacts not just the largest accounting firms, but any CPA actively working as an auditor of, or for, a publicly traded company. The basic implications of the Act for accountants are summarized below.
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will Move to a different private sector regulatory structure, a new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (the Board) will be appointed and overseen by the SEC. The Board, made up of five full-time members, will oversee and investigate the audits and auditors of public companies, and sanction both firms and individuals for violations of laws, regulations and rules.
The Board, made up of five full-time members, will oversee and investigate the audits and auditors of public companies, and sanction both firms and individuals for violations of laws, regulations and rules. The Board will issue standards or adopt standards to be set by other groups or organizations, for audit firm quality controls for the audits of public companies. These standards include the following auditing and related attestation, quality control, ethics, independence and "other standards necessary to protect the public interest." The Board has the authority to set and enforce audit and quality control standards for public company audits. The Board is empowered to regularly inspect registered accounting firms' operations and will investigate potential violations of securities laws, standards, competency and conduct. Sanctions may be imposed for non-cooperation, violations, or failure to supervise a partner or employee in a registered accounting firm. These include revocation or suspension of an accounting firm's registration, prohibition from auditing public companies, and imposition of civil penalties. During investigations, the Board can require
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