Abstract
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is one of the most important pieces of legislation affecting corporate governance and the practice of public accounting since the US securities laws of the early 1930s. The Act is relatively recent in the history of American accountancy. It was signed into law on 30 July 2002 by President Bush. The Act was named in reference to Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael G. Oxley who were mainly responsible for the creation of such an important law. The main purpose of the Act is to protect shareholders and investors by inspecting and monitoring companies. In order to achieve that goal, the Act requires public companies to improve the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures, by "certifying" truthful financial information. It is important to notice that the Act is made for all the companies which are publicly traded on the American financial markets: even for the smallest ones and even for the foreign companies.
