What is the Sarbanes-Oxley Law?

In the USA, in the year 2002, the Sarbanes and Oxley Law is a law on the reform of the accountancy of the companies and the protection of the investors. This famous lax is known under acronym SOX, Sarbox, SOA or according to the name of its promoters Loi Sarbanes-Oxley. It is a federal law voted in response to the various financial scandals (Parmalat, Enron, Worldcom, etc.) occurred recently which revealed at the great day the faults of the countable and financial legislation of the companies. The law of July 31, 2002 (Pub L No 107-204, 116 Stat. 745) known as Sarbanes-Oxley Act introduced:

• obligation for the presidents and the financial directors to certify the accounts personally
• obligation to name administrators independent at the committee of audit of the board of directors
• the framing of the particular advantages of the leaders (loss of the profit-sharing in the event of diffusion of inaccurate information, possibility given to the SEC - Securities and Exchange Commission, authority of regulation of the American stock exchange markets - to prohibit any social mandate for the leaders suspected of fraud).

This law also obliges to implement an internal audit being pressed on a conceptual framework. In practice the COSO is the reference frame more used. Because a number of non-American companies with dimensions in the New York Stock Exchange, largest of the world purses, and fact are subjected to this law, SOX has repercussions beyond the borders of the United States. It is besides why one speaks about extraterritoriality about the repercussions of law SOX.

Tags: Parmalat, Enron, Worldcom, Sarbanes, Oxley, SEC

Who is Sarbanes?

Paul Spyros Sarbanes was born on February 3, 1933 with Salisbury, Maryland, wire of immigrant parents from Greece. He is an American politician, member of the democratic Party and senator of Maryland to the Congress of the United States since 1977. Graduate of Princeton in 1954, it obtained a school purse Rhodos to study in Oxford, then finishes his studies at the school of right ofHarvard. In 1966, Sarbanes was elected with the room of delegated of Maryland. In 1970, he was elected with the Room of the Representatives of the United States, re-elected in 1972 and 1974, year when it wrote the first article of the procedure of Impeachment against president Richard Nixon. In 1976, Sarbanes was elected with the Senate of the United States beating the republican senator outgoing John Glenn Beall Jr.. Sarbanes was re-elected in 1982, 1988, 1994 and 2000. In 2005, Sarbanes announces its decision not to be represented in 2006. Sarbanes, of orthodoxe Greek religion, is married since 1960 in Christine Dunbar, native of Brighton in England. They have three children and six grandchildren. But now his name is world well known because he is one of the author of the Sarbanes-Oxley Law, which was passed after the scandal of Enron and Worldcom.

Tags: Congress, Princeton, Oxford, the Room of the Representatives, Impeachment, Nichard Nixon, Senate, John Glenn Beall Jr, Sarbanes, Christine Dunbar, Sarbanes-Oxley, Enron, Worldcom