Public Law 107-204

E22973

Public Law 107-204 is the formal designation of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002, a landmark U.S. federal law that overhauled corporate governance and financial reporting standards to combat accounting fraud.


Statements (50)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Act of Congress
United States federal law
alsoKnownAs Corporate Responsibility Act of 2002
appliesTo public company boards of directors
public company management
public company public accounting firms
publicly traded companies in the United States
codifiedIn Title 15 of the United States Code
Title 18 of the United States Code
country United States of America
creates Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
enactedBy 107th United States Congress
imposes criminal penalties for destroying or falsifying financial records
criminal penalties for securities fraud
jurisdiction United States
motivatedBy Enron accounting scandal
WorldCom accounting scandal
early-2000s corporate accounting scandals
namedAfter Michael G. Oxley
Paul Sarbanes
officialName Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002
primaryPurpose to combat corporate and accounting fraud
to enhance corporate governance and accountability
to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures
publicLawNumber 107-204
regulates auditing of public companies
corporate financial reporting
internal control over financial reporting
requires CEO and CFO certification of financial reports
independent auditor attestation of internal controls for certain issuers
management assessment of internal controls
section Section 302
Section 404
Section 802
Section 906
shortName SOX
Sarbanes–Oxley Act
Sarbox
signedBy George W. Bush
signingDate 2002-07-30
sponsor Michael G. Oxley
Paul Sarbanes
statutesAtLargeCitation 116 Stat. 745
strengthens oversight of external auditors
protections for whistleblowers in public companies
subjectMatter accounting standards
corporate governance
financial reporting
securities regulation
yearEnacted 2002

Referenced by (1)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002
publicLawNumber

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