Sarbanes-Oxley: The Legacy of Enron, WorldCom, et. al.

The accounting scandals of Enron, WorldCom, Waste Management, Sunbeam, Tyco, Adelphia and others led to the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, including the Section 404 internal control management assessment and related auditor certification requirement; the creation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; and greatly increased liability for corporate directors and officers.

The rules for all public companies were made tougher and more burdensome; worse, the scope of services auditors were allowed to provide their public company clients was drastically reduced.  A double-edged sword for entrepreneurs, whose companies’ financial statements, other disclosures and internal control systems not only had to meet more complex and/or rigorous standards, but now had to do so without one of their best traditional sources of assistance - their independent certified public accountants.  If those services were now provided by the audit firm, they would be considered to be auditing their own work, thus invalidating the audit they were engaged to perform.

Fortunately, there is a solution!  If you are responsible for the financial reporting of a small public company, or the CEO of a company planning an IPO under the Small Business Regulations, the experts at The SEC Rules are ready to help you today.

Essentially, we will fill the position of Chief Reporting Officer for your company, interface with your management, auditors, audit committee and securities counsel and be hands-on directly responsible for the preparation and/or coordination of all parts of your periodic filing or registration statement within the established deadlines, so that you can focus on what you know best – your business.  You will still be directly involved in the process – you have to be, but with our guidance, you will be a knowledgeable participant!