IntroductionIf corporate America learned anything in 2001, it was that appearances can be deceiving, and so can financial statements. In early 2001, Enron was considered one of the most competitive energy companies in its industry. In December 2001, Enron collapsed; He filed for bankruptcy and ultimately lost over sixty-three billion dollars to his investors, not to mention losing thousands of employee pensions and/or 401,000 dollars. These gigantic Enron spinoffs were the result of a series of fraudulent transactions resulting from financial falsifications. documentation. Unfortunately for the American public and investors, Enron did not act alone; many companies have participated in similar fraudulent activities. The result of the corporate fraud evident in America has been devastating to the economy. More specifically, the Enron and other scandals plunged American investors into a crisis of loss of confidence; as well as devastating monetary losses for stakeholders across the country. The United States government knew that a lack of investor confidence could hamper or slow the American economy and, for this reason, took steps to act quickly. Just seven months after the largest corporate scandal in American history, President Bush signed into law the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (2002), also known as The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 The rapid and determined adoption of this law is strongly linked to unethical business practices by corporate executives, such as falsification of financial transactions and/or documents. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act introduced several reforms to the business world, such as strict penalties for wrongdoing and new accountability standards for corporate auditing and financial reporting. T...... middle of paper ...... for example, before Sarbanes-Oxley, a pathetic ONE percent of analysts would recommend investors sell asset stocks. Barely 2 years after SOX, this figure exceeded 20%! (Forbes). In just 2 years, the asset sales rating has increased by more than 2,000%; this represents a collective impact of business leaders and auditors/regulators towards a more ethical and responsible business environment. Before the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley in 2002, many executives and analysts had no incentive to issue a sell rating and simply continued to gloat over greed. In just two years, Sarbanes-Oxley's tough new penalties have clearly already leveled the playing field. This statistic is just one of the many impacts that Sarbanes-Oxley has left on the business world. I would like to individually briefly discuss the 11 requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and the resulting impact. Title 1