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Ethics and Compliance

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Ethics and Compliance
Team B
FIN 370
April 23, 2012
Thien Ngo

Ethics and Compliance

Complying with the SEC Regulations The Securities Act of 1933 had two main purposes. The first purpose of the Securities Exchange Commission or SEC is to require investors to files significant information regarding the securities for public sale. The second purpose is to stop any fraud, or misrepresentation in the sale of these securities. The SEC is responsible to enforce laws to make sure organizations complying with the laws created. The Security Exchange Act of 1934 regulates the transactions of securities in the secondary market where Wal-Mart’s securities are exchanged. The SEC’s powers include enforcing the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, Sarbannes- Oxley Act of 2002, and other legislature (Sarkar, n.d.).
Wal-Mart keeps the public and the SEC well informed of all significant information by the many publications they create and reports they must file according to the law. Wal-Mart creates an Annual Report, periodic news releases, Quarterly Reports, Global Sustainability Reports, Proxy Statements, and many more. These periodic filings are required to be filed with EDGAR, an online filing system. EDGAR stands for Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system. EDGAR’s purpose is to ensure efficiency and fairness of the securities market. Wal-Mart requires any person who owns more than 10% of securities of the organization to file reports of ownership and any kind of changes of ownership with the SEC (Wal-Mart, 2001).
Wal-Mart also used independent auditors to make sure they are staying complied with the SEC regulations. The Wal-Mart Corporation website allows investors to see the reports filed with the SEC. The website offers names of analyst from top investment firms, but it also offers a disclaimer that the analyst opinion is their own opinion. Investors can easily click on any of the reports that have been filed.

References
Sarkar, D. (n.d.). Legal Information Insitute. Retrieved from http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/securities_exchange_act_of_1934
Wal-Mart. (2001). Notice of annual meeting of shareholders. Retrieved from http://www.walmartstores.com/media/Investors/2001_proxy.pdf

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