By Mark G. Borden, John A. Burgess, David E. Redlick and Jonathan Wolfman
Originally published on July 26, 2002
On July 25, 2002, the House and Senate each approved a compromise bill on accounting reform and corporate governance. President Bush has promised to sign the bill, now called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, into law.
As described in the attached summary, the bill includes significant and wide-ranging provisions designed to:
- enhance corporate responsibility, through new corporate governance and disclosure obligations,
- increase auditor independence and establish greater oversight of the audit process for public companies, and
- toughen the penalties for securities law fraud and other violations.
