Analyzing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Financial Scandals

Analyzing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Financial Scandals Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Analyzing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Financial Scandals Located Article Friedenberg, E. S., Hoyns, J. K., Nusbacher, G. W., Bailey, D. A., Washburn, J. D., Schwartz, B., LexisNexis, Matthew Bender, & United States. (2002). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 : with analysis. LexisNexis Matthew Bender. Analysis of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was adopted in 2002 (SOX) to re-engineer public trust in corporate financial reporting. SOX blossomed because of the accounting scandal coming from the likes of WorldCom and Enron scandals at that time. The main goal of SOX act was to protect investors from damages due to inaccuracy and unreliability of corporate disclosures. The act intended to set up stricter standards of corporate governance and improve the transparency of financial reporting. One of the other objectives of the act was to boost the accountability of company executives and auditors. Further, it creates the public company accounting oversight board (PCAOB) for overseeing professionals auditing. Application to a Financial Scandal The Scandal Overview One of the most notable financial scandals of the past 20 years was the 2016 Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal. In 2016, Wells Fargo, one of the largest banks in the US, was exposed for engaging in widespread fraudulent practices that included the unauthorized opening of millions of customer accounts without their consent. The creation of fake accounts stemmed from employees who were under extreme...