Some Facts About Sarbanes Oxley Legislation
Sarbanes Oxley is a federal law and it was signed into law in year the 2002 by George Bush, President of United States. Sarbanes Oxley legislation act consists of eleven titles such as auditors independent, white collar prime penalty, tax returns but there are various important in sections Sarbanes Oxley legislation and they are 302, 401, 409, 906 and 404. Sarbanes Oxley legislation was named after 'senator Paul Sarbanes and representative of this act Michael Oxley.
Sarbanes Oxley legislation is an act that was enacted to prevent the share holders and general public from the errors of accounts and fraudulent practices in any project. Apart from this Securities and Exchange Commission, which gives the deadlines for the compliance and publishes rules, administers Sarbanes Oxley legislation.
Sarbanes Oxley legislation does not specify how the record should be stored but it defines that which records are to store and for how long they are to be stored. Sarbanes Oxley legislation not only has an impact on financial side of corporation but it also has an impact on all IT departments. Sarbanes Oxley act enumerated that all the business records be it electronic records or electronic messages they must be saved for almost five years. The IT departments are faced with challenges for creating and maintaining all corporate records.
Sarbanes Oxley legislation has three rules that have an impact on the management of electronic records. And the first rule is about dealing with destruction, and alteration. Whoever voluntarily destroys conceals and alters or even makes false entry in the record or document faces the investigation and he or she is charged of being guilty and can be imprisoned for more than 20 years. The second rule states the time span for the maintenance of records storage. The best practice indicates that all the organizations store all the business records by using same strategy which is set for public accountants. There are various benefits of Sarbanes Oxley legislation like: its operational benefits are the team of personals and board of directors sees Sarbanes Oxley act as compliance and as well as administrative exercise so this act encourages the companies to improve the business. The second benefit that one can be reap profits, if there has been raise in revenue all what is needed is that increase in the activities of the organization. Sarbanes Oxley legislation also has an impact on executive compensation. Sarbanes Oxley act requires paying incentives or it can be bonus or equity based compensation received from an organization. How ever organizations argue on that sec 304 contains vague language and also presents the various numbers of unanswered questions. There are other benefits provided from Sarbanes Oxley legislation there is rapid return on investment due to short implementations on time span, capital expense can be transformed into business expense. The recourses can be redeployed to add competition between the organizations. Sarbanes Oxley act has played an important role in making companies financially safe and has also helped in increasing the efficiency of the company.
|