Originally published on July 30, 2002
On July 30, 2002 The President signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the "Act"). This sweeping legislation addresses a number of issues of critical importance to public companies. Among its many provisions are ones establishing new disclosure requirements applicable to companies and their CEOs and CFOs, restricting certain executive officer and director transactions and accelerating Section 16 reporting, imposing new obligations on corporate audit committees, establishing a new regulatory body to oversee public company auditors and redefining the relationship between auditors and their clients, imposing new rules of professional responsibility on attorneys and securities analysts, and enhancing a variety of criminal penalties and enforcement measures for securities-related offenses. In addition, the Act requires the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") to study and issue reports on a variety of topics. For complete memorandum,
