Mark Bole wrote:
> DA Morgan wrote:
>
>> Noons wrote:
>>
>>> DA Morgan wrote:
>>>
> [...]
>
>> In the US we have a law, several years old, named Sarbanes-Oxley
>> after the two Senators that authored it. It is some times shortened
>> to SarbOx and other times to SOx.
>>
>> On one hand it is about process. On another it clearly defines who
>> in an organization is responsible for the authenticity of financial
>> numbers which includes accounting, inventory, assets, etc.
>>
>> Ultimately it makes auditors careful about what they sign off on and
>> it requires CEOs and CFOs to personally guarantee the numbers are
>> accurate under pain of fines and/or jail time.
>>
>> All US banks are subject to the act as well as all publicly held
>> companies and many large privately held concerns.
>
>
> My understanding is that private companies in the U.S. are not subject
> to SarbOx, nor are public companies with a market capitalization under
> $75 million (USD). Perhaps some are subject to it, indirectly, if their
> customers are subject to SarbOx and they (the customers) demand it of
> their service providers "by extension". By contrast, there are
> companies that probably should have been subject to HIPPA "by extension"
> but haven't been (HIPPA is similar to SarbOx in that it mandates certain
> privacy controls on personal health insurance information).
>
> Has any individual actually been convicted, or even charged (civilly or
> criminally), of a crime under SarbOx rules? After all, it's been a year
> since Section 404(a) kicked in, surely someone would have tried to test
> the limits by now.... or have the all the CEO's of America turned into
> saints? ;-)
>
> Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong proponent of full disclosure (when it
> applies equally to both parties, of course). SarbOx is a good idea, I'm
> just wondering aloud how it has played out in practice, at least as far
> as the public is allowed to know ...
>
> -Mark Bole
So far it has played out as a way for the big consultancies to make a
small fortune and for those like me to make a few shillings. I can't
say whether anyone has been put into legal jeopardy yet but I have seen
the big accounting firms refuse to sign off on a financial statement
which equates to no bank loans, no lines-of-credit, etc. And no C-level
manager wants to risk fines or jail time because of his/her IT staff.
So the law seems to be having a definite affect.
--
Daniel A. Morgan
http://www.psoug.org
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace x with u to respond)
Received on Tue Nov 22 2005 - 09:56:20 CST
