SOX legislation

Proper corporate governance is a fundamental part of good business practice. Revised corporate governance regulations over the past decade have mandated a much stricter standard of compliance for corporations internationally with the result that corporations have to be increasingly aware of new performance and risk control measures.

The United States has had many developments in the area of compliance, for example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, set new standards for corporate financial integrity. The Act aims to enhance corporate governance through measures that will strengthen internal checks and balances and, ultimately, strengthen corporate accountability.

The legislation establishes new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms. This federal law was in response to the growing number of major corporate and accounting scandals.
Click here for the full text of the Sarbanes Oxley Act (200k PDF)

Ray Panko has a paper on spreadsheet errors and compliance, click here for his Spreadsheets and Sarbanes–Oxley paper (500k PDF)