The Sarbanes-Oxley and Patriot Acts
In response to the corporate frauds discussed above, the U.S. Congress passed the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Highly publicized and hurriedly passed, the SOX act has
many requirements that affect accounting information systems. One section, for example,
forbids corporations from making personal loans to executives—a requirement that outlaws
the former practice of transferring funds to officers who never pay back the money. Another
section requires the chief executive officers (CEOs) of companies to personally vouch for
the accuracy and completeness of its financial statements. Yet a third section requires
public companies to hire independent, new auditors to review their internal controls and
determine their compliance with other financial regulations.
Perhaps the most important part of SOX to accountants is Section 404, which
requires managers to implement and assess internal controls and auditors to evaluate
those assessments. This portion of the bill has created the most work for accountants and
information systems auditors. We discuss the details of this act in several chapters of this
book.