The effects of Sarbanes Oxley on publically traded companies

Abstract

Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) has been in place for over a decade, and the effects of the legislation are widely debated in the business community. To determine whether SOX has affected publically traded companies in the United States a number of components have to be examined. SOX has decreased the number of discretionary accruals performed by CEOs/CFOs and increased the quality of internal controls. Also important when discussing the effects of SOX are backdating stock options and material weaknesses, which declined significantly for implicated companies in the post-SOX era. Non-implicated companies did not experience such a decline. For the most part companies that reported aggressively prior to SOX are impacted more than their conservative counterparts.