The business research in the article is about the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which was signed and made into law by President Bush in July of 2002. This new law was to help restore investor confidence in United States financial markets. After incidents with Enron and WorldCom, lawmakers knew Americans had to be able to trust the companies they wanted to invest in. According to the article, "SOX has strengthened corporate accountability and vastly improved public confidence in big business and the U.S. securities markets" (Grumet, 2007, Para. 4).
The article shares several business problems with the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley bill. The first issue occurred before the passing of the bill when organizations such as Enron, Adelphia, Tyco, and WorldCom "cooked" the books to show large profits while losing money and market share, and with CEOs stealing from the pensions of their employees. The second issue was the public's feelings about the stock market after the scandals.
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Michael Oxley , U.S. Senator from Maryland.
Before the signing ceremony of the Sarbanes-Oxley ...The government was forced into action to save the markets and reduce the fears of investors. The third issue was the sweeping reform the bill forced on corporations. The bill required, "a company strengthen auditor independence; have its chief executives sign off on the financial statements; obtain an opinion about its internal control systems; and have an internal audit function that is examined by external auditors"(Grumet, 2007, Para. 2). The new policy incurred additional expenses upon corporations to comply with the bill. The major complaint was the costs would reduce overall profits and restrict the organizations from making decisions and taking necessary risks.
In the article, Louis Grumet references a research study from Financial Executives International (FEI). FEI provides networking, timely updates, and continuing professional education on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as well as compliance and regulatory updates from the...