Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I am trying to summarize the Act, signed July 30, for members of my audit committee.

Certain sections are effective immediately, within 30 days of enactment, 180 days of enactment, etc. Would that be 30 days from July 30, 2002 (August 29, 2002)?

Hopefully I'm not too far behind - but what is this act?

This is the corporate governance bill signed by Pres. Bush on July 30, 2002. It establishes an independent Public Accounting Oversight Board and further defines outside auditor independence, corporate responsibility, financial disclosure.

I read it as August 29th. I'm also tasked with digesting and summarizing this Act. I've read 5 different professional summaries and thought they were talking about 5 different acts. Everyone is concentrating on their piece of the pie.

Good Luck

MichelleD,

Like you I have read a number of summaries. The one I found most helpful, from my persepective, was the one by the IIA. If you have not yet read it, I recommend it.

Nancy

If you are a member of the American Bankers Association, they produced a very helpful chart outlining the topics, legislative requirements and possible action items for banks. I sent a copy to each member of the audit committee for review before our next meeting. I'm not sure if it is posted on their website - our bank received a faxed memo. I'd be happy to fax it to anyone that's interested.

Thanks, Teresa. I did find the chart on their web site after doing a search of "Sarbanes Oxley Act."

Could you please fax me a copy of the chart to 407-622-0766. Thank you very much!

It's a PDF file and is available by clicking on the link below:

ABA Chart - Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002

It's posted on the public part of the ABA website, so I don't expect there is any harm in linking it here.

Thanks Jim - that always saves time to have a link.

Can anyone give me a brief rundown on how the Sarbanes-Oxley Act would affect a privately held financial institution? In a sense, we are public having FDIC insurance and all, but we are not publically traded.

Bonnie, that is the 100K question. We are also a privately held bank - our ultimate parent is publicly traded. I reviewed the act for items that I thought the regulators may enforce or that just seemed like best practices. Most of these items are going to be discussed at our Board meeting this month, just to get the members thinking about corporate governance issues.

If you send me a private message I'll forward a scrubbed version of the document to you.

Help! I would love a fax 530-741-4860
Thanks

Sorry to be so long responding, but I've been out for a couple days. How about a link instead of the fax - ABA's Summary of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. I think its important to review this material with your audit committees even though you may not be publicly traded. With Enron and WorldCom, controls are only going to become tighter for audit committees - and of course banking regulators can always change their rules to include you!

Teresa,

I would like a fax of the chart outline you received from ABA. I am a bit behind the ball on this one.
My fax is 530-741-4860
Thanks

Oops sorry teresa. I did not read everything. I owe you an apology. Have a great day.

That's OK, I'm flexible. In fact, I was just sitting at my desk with a copy of the report with your name on it and was looking up your fax number in order to send!!

teresa,

Do you know what a 10-K filer is exactly?

The 10K is the annual report that publicly traded companies must file with the SEC.

From the SEC's web site:
Form 10-K
This is the annual report that most reporting companies file with the Commission. It provides a comprehensive overview of the registrant's business. The report must be filed within 90 days after the end of the company's fiscal year.

Thanks Ron, that helps.

I have been asked if this act governs Non-SEC filers? And I can not truly answer that question, can someone help? There is a seminar coming up that I would like to register for, but do not want to waste valuable dollars for something I may not need.

Thanks

This Act only applies to publicly-traded companies. However, it undoubtedly foreshadows what may be to come for private companies, particularly financial institutions, in the audit area, so it's smart to get familiar with it.

Thanks for the information.