with over $100 billion in assets, filed for bank ruptcy in July 2002. In response to these problems. Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (so). sox applies to publicly held their auditors and was intended to prevent financial statement fraud, make financial reports more transparent, provide protection to investon. strengthen the internal con- trols at public companies, and punish cxccutives who perpetrate fraud. sox has had a material impact on the way boards of directors, management, and accountants of publicly held companies operate. In fact. many people believe that Sox is the most important and influential business-oriented legislation in the last 70 years it has also had a dramatic impact on CPAs of publicly held companies and the audits of those companies. Some of the most important aspects of SOX are: Public Company Accounting oversight Board. Sox created a five member Publie Company Accounting oversight Board PCOB) to con trol the auditing profession. The SEC appoints PCAOB members and oversees their activities. In effect. nonaccountants now regulate the auditing profession. s three PCAOB members cannot be CPAs. Mandatory fees for public compa- nies as well as registration and annual fees for auditing firms fund the PCAOB The PCAOB sets and enforces auditing. quality control. ethics, independence, and other standard relating to audit reports New rules for auditors. Auditors must report specific information to the company's audit committee, such as entical accounting policies and practices. alternative GAAP treatments. and auditor-management disagreements. Audit partners must be rotated periodically. Sox prohibits auditors from performing certain nonaudit services such as bookkeeping. information systems design and implementation. internal audit outsourcing services, management func tions, and human resource services. Any permissible nonaudit services have to preapproved by the board of directors and periodically disclosed to investors Audit firms cannot provide services to publicly held companies if top management previously employed by the auditing firm and worked on was the company's audit in the preceding 12 months