lated Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and stock exchange rules as imposing more fiduciary responsibilities on corporate executives and board members while simultaneously enhancing the liability and the penalties that accrue to individuals who fail to comply with the law. According to one analyst,
Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOA) on July 30, 2002, to restore integrity and public confidence in corporate governance, financial statements and stock valuations. Although technically not tax legislation, the SOA affects public-company tax departments and tax advisers. Some of its provisions could be extended to nonpublic companies and individuals as well, through state or industry regulation or market forces, and a few can apply to any taxpayer of tax adviser (Goodman, 2003).
Goodman (2003) states that basically, Sarbanes-Oxley requires that any company that issues stock publicly must adopt a code of ethics for senior financial officers and that chief executive officers (CEOs) an
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