Compliance: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Overview

Sarbanes-Oxley (commonly called "SarbOx" or "SOX") is law today. It was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2002 in the wake of serious accounting scandals perpetrated by major U.S. corporations. It affects the accounting, financial reporting, and tracking of sales activities for large and small public companies alike, and also for privately held firms that may at some point seek to become public. Compliance with the law constitutes a major investment of corporate resources for companies of all sizes - failure to comply has destroyed companies and ruined careers.