CAQ and SEC Historical Society mark Sarbanes-Oxley’s 15th anniversary

The Center for Audit Quality and the Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act with a series of videos featuring commentary from several accounting, finance and auditing experts.

President George W. Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act into law on July 30, 2002. Passed in the wake of a series of high-profile accounting scandals in the early 2000s, SOX ushered in a number of significant changes in the accounting and auditing professions, including the creation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, requirements for companies to have their internal controls over financial reporting audited, along with requirements for auditor independence, enhanced financial disclosures, criminal penalties for manipulation and destruction of financial records, whistleblower protections and penalties against financial fraud and other white collar crimes.

The video series features interviews with CAQ executive director Cindy Fornelli, former Financial Accounting Standards Board chairman Bob Herz, PCAOB board members Lewis Fergsuon and Jeanette Franzel, former PCAOB chairmen Mark Olson and Dan Goelzer, National Association of Corporate Directors president and CEO Peter Gleason and other experts. The videos discuss the impact of SOX in various areas, including financial reporting, investor confidence, audit quality, audit committees and classroom teaching.

“These videos tell the success story of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and how it transformed financial reporting to benefit investors and our capital markets,” Fornelli said in a statement. “We’re proud to say that audit quality, investor confidence, and financial reporting are stronger today thanks in large part to this landmark legislation.”

Darren S. Higgins/Darren S. Higgins