The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA) is the single most significant piece of legislation affecting corporate governance and financial disclosure since the US securities laws of the early 1930s. It aims at addressing the lack of confidence in the accounting and auditing profession and the structures and practices of corporate governance there. Under this law, CEO and CFOs of companies that have a listing on the US stock exchanges are personally responsible for the accuracy of their company's accounts.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA) is the single most important piece of legislation affecting corporate governance and financial disclosure since the US Securities laws of the early 1930s. SOA is the legislative response to a combination of legal, ethical, accounting and auditing and regulatory issues arising out of the spate of scandals rocking the business and investment community in the US. It aims at addressing the lack of confidence in the accounting and auditing profession and the structures and practices of corporate governance there.

The President of United States, George W Bush signed the SOA of 2002 (Public Law 107-204) on July 30, 2002. Congress presented the act to the President on July 26, 2002, after passage in the Senate by a 99-0 vote and in the House by a 423-3 margin. The law established a five-member accounting oversight board that is subject to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) oversight.

Most of the rules implementing the SOA have been adopted. The SEC has released final rules relating to attorney conduct, disclosure of audit committee experts, codes of ethics for certain corporate officers and conditions for use of non-GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) financial information, among others. A number of additional initiatives are emerging from state governments and the judiciary in the US to augment what advocates believe are deficiencies in how far SOA has gone.

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