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Team A Weekly Reflection Summary
ACC 290
May 6, 2013
Mike Arnone

In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was enacted because of several high profile companies conducting shady accounting practices. The bankruptcy of Enron in 2001 totaling $62 billion in assets financially crippled employees and retirees of the Enron Corporation. The shear lack of attention and respect of the accounting system by corporate officers of Enron had to be addressed. Several things where put in place to ensure this type of financial disaster would not happen again. The internal control principles are the primary control solutions. The corporate officers are required to review, approve, and sign off on all financial statements.
SOX has affects the practice of accounting because it lead to the creation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), whose role is to oversee and inspect the audits and auditors of public companies (Nichols, 2009). SOX make the manager’s responsible for financial reporting. For public companies, it requires the Corporate Executive Office (CEO) and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to certify the statements that have to be submitted to the SEC. The Act also requires that all of the public companies have to issue a report on internal control, acknowledging management’s responsibility for maintaining controls and assessing the effectiveness of the company’s internal control structure and procedures. (Nichols, 2009).
SOX requires all United States (U.S.) corporations to have a system of internal control that is reliable and effective. The roles of internal control in complying with SOX (2002) are to enhance the reliability of corporations’ accounting records, safeguard the assets, ensure laws and regulations are followed, and increase operations’ efficiency. The internal control systems consist of five primary important components, such as a