Sarbanes Oxley Compliance

What is Sarbanes-Oxley?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act become law in the USA in 2002, it is a law designed to improve procedures and increase standards among American companies. Sarbanes-Oxley has been often described as the most far-reaching corporate law since legislation passed in the 1930s in response to the Stock Market crash of 1929.
 
The recent corporate scandals over the few years include the Enron scandal is perhaps the best known scandal but there are a number of others including WorldCom and Arthur Anderson, these and others have had a massive effect on the confidence of investors large and small. Many Americans lost valueable savings as a result, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed by Congress in response.
 
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act deals financial reporting. Among other things, Sarbanes-Oxley established a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), which operates under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Sarbanes-Oxley requires companies to both report on their finances and to be checked by independent auditors.
 
As a result of the public scandals, it was clear that increased federal oversight of corporate America was needed. It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of the legislation but companies will have to accept the change.

Does Sarbanes-Oxley affect you and your company?

If your company operates in the USA then you are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, this does have implications in terms of additional compliance procedures - the Act is aimed to safeguard investors and reduce corruption. It is possible that aspects of the Act may become part European law in the near future.

How can Hostway help you with your storage needs?

To achieve compliance you will need to have your IT systems included in the audit process and part of this is secure off site storage. Hostway understands the importance of this, many companies are required to store documents and information under existing UK legislation.

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