George A. Haloulakos, CFA DBA Spartan Research and Consulting, Core Adjunct Finance Faculty – National University
Co-authored with: Farhang Mossavar-Rahmani, DBA, Professor of Finance – National University
In 2002 Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act after a series of fraudulent accounting and finance activities and questionable behavior by many high level corporate executives during the early part of the 21st century. The Act set new or enhanced standards for corporate officers and directors of all publicly traded US companies, as well as public accounting firms servicing those companies. In the context of Agency Theory, the main purpose was to restore investor confidence, prevent or reduce the management misconduct, and protect stockholder interest. The Act also holds both Chief Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers of the companies criminally and civilly accountable for the financial reports of their companies.
Since passage of the SOX Act, many studies have been conducted to find out the impact of the Act on businesses. The results have been mixed. In some cases the value of stocks increased, but in other cases companies experienced a significant increase in costs. The Act also has created obstacles and has made it increasingly difficult for new or small companies to go public. In such cases the compliance costs were a major issue. In this study, we are examining three such companies that were negatively impacted by the SOX Act.
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