SOXL
THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Learning Objective:
The past years has witnessed a number of high-profile corporate scandals: Enron, Tyco International, Healthsouth, Global Crossing, and WorldCom. While these are the most glaring, there are many more companies whose shareholders and employees have suffered as stock prices have fallen. The course examines recent developments in finance and accounting and a series of corporate accounting scandals on the heels of the Enron debacle that have led to new sweeping accounting guidelines, proposals, and legislation-most notably, the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act.
Major topics include:
- Sources of accounting irregularities and scandals
- Major reasons for the Enron debacle
- Examples of recent financial restatements
- Special Purpose Entities (SPEs)
- The stock option controversy: to expense or not to expense?
- Rules and regulations issued by FASB, NYSE, SEC, and AIMR
- Major features of the SOX Act
- What is corporate governance and how can it be measured quantitatively?
- True costs of complying with the SOX Act
- Strategies for dealing with the SOX Act
- How software and technologies can help in SOX implementation
- Understanding corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics
CPE Credit: 4 hours
Level of knowledge: Basic
Field of study: Auditing
Prerequisites: None
Advance Preparation: None |
