Business: Sarbanes-Oxley: Old Dog, New Teeth

Sarbanes-Oxley: Old Dog, New Teeth

Written by Gerald Czarnecki

The failures we have seen in repparttar

quality and integrity of financial reporting in corporate America are clear evidence that something was awry. It is repparttar 136740

responsibility of corporate boards, managements, public accounting firms and regulatory agencies to put confidence back into repparttar 136741

financial statements issued by our society’s most significant entities. Although some would argue that Sarbanes Oxley went too far, it is also now evident that government action and repparttar 136742

use of enforcement muscle was required, if for no other reason than to move toward rebuilding public trust. There is no doubt that Sarbanes Oxley, and in particular, Section 404, has increased repparttar 136743

expense of doing business for public corporations; however, this is neither a new mandate, nor a superfluous one. All parties engaged in this process have previously ignored repparttar 136744

mandate, and must now accept reality, and get past repparttar 136745

complaining.

A little history…back in 1977, repparttar 136746 Congress of repparttar 136747 United States passed a piece of legislation commonly known as repparttar 136748 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). That law is well know for mandating repparttar 136749 American corporations regulated by Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) be prohibited from making any type of corrupt payments to agents of governments or corporations in foreign countries. The civil and criminal penalties were quite onerous, and most corporations changed their practices in order to avoid those penalties.

The action taken by repparttar 136750 FCPA in 1977 was often characterized as repparttar 136751 most extensive application of federal law to repparttar 136752 regulation of business since repparttar 136753 passage of repparttar 136754 1933 and 1934 securities acts. In light of reports that American corporations were “greasing” government officials in a number of countries, Congress had acted decisively in order to restore repparttar 136755 reputation of American business and eliminate improper payments to foreign governments, politicians and political parties. A seldom-remembered aspect of that legislation was that repparttar 136756 same corporations were mandated to “devise and maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurances that…transactions are recorded as necessary to…permit preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles or any other criteria applicable to such statements, and…to maintain accountability for assets” This requirement got a great deal of press when repparttar 136757 law was first passed, and many articles were written on how repparttar 136758 new law would transform repparttar 136759 way corporations managed and repparttar 136760 way repparttar 136761 public accounting firms audited. This was true for a short time, but repparttar 136762 business world slipped back into its previous lack of concern for controls, and repparttar 136763 public accounting firms conveniently allowed that slippage. Pressure for firms to maintain cost-effective (generally meaning lean) operations and pressure from firms to keep down auditing fees, caused repparttar 136764 corporations and repparttar 136765 audit firms to be at best, permissive in regards to compliance with repparttar 136766 FCPA mandate. In effect, repparttar 136767 act had no teeth. All of repparttar 136768 sanctions imposed were focused on punishing illegal payments, not for a failure to comply with repparttar 136769 internal controls mandate. For 25 years, Congress, repparttar 136770 SEC, public companies and public accounting firms essentially ignored a mandate in large measure because there was little or no enforcement action for a failure to comply. The academic leaders in repparttar 136771 accounting profession have know for some time that there was a need to strengthen repparttar 136772 systems of internal controls. In 1985, repparttar 136773 Treadway Commission was asked to identify what caused fraudulent financial reporting and to make recommendations to reduce its incidence. The Commission's report included specific recommendations for management and boards of directors of public companies, repparttar 136774 public accounting profession, repparttar 136775 SEC and other regulatory and law enforcement bodies, and academics. The Commission made a number of recommendations that directly addressed internal control. Importantly, repparttar 136776 commission focused on repparttar 136777 control environment, codes of conduct, competent and involved audit committees and an active and objective internal audit function. It also called for repparttar 136778 sponsoring organizations to work together to create a framework for establishing and evaluating systems of internal controls. The result was repparttar 136779 creation of repparttar 136780 Committee of Sponsoring Organanizations of repparttar 136781 Treadway Commission (COSO), which issued a report that outlined repparttar 136782 principles for an effective system of internal controls.

What to Look for in a Home Based Business Opportunity

Written by Dee Scrip ©All rights reserved

When you were younger, did you ever dream about having your own home business? Were you sidetracked somewhere along repparttar

way and now find yourself caught in repparttar 136709

40-40-40 rut?

40-40-40 Plan (Rut)

40 minutes going to and from work 40 hours of work per week 40 years of life spent working slaving away for someone else?

When things get unfairly tough at work, do you still dream about your own home business – what you would do, how you would run your own home business, how you would treat your employees, what kind of money you would make, what product you would sell? Then when you decide to make a change in your life, do you look for another 40-40-40 job, putting your dream of your own home business on repparttar 136710 back burner again for more of repparttar 136711 same?

Do you know repparttar 136712 end results of repparttar 136713 40-40-40 plan? 1% are wealthy enough to retire in comfort 3% are barely able to survive 27% are dead 69% are dead broke

Do you want to be in repparttar 136714 top 1% that is willing to do something about it now, before it is too late? Being a former Human Resource Manager, I knew these statistics all too well, and I decided to take preventative measures.

Since you are still reading this article, I am going to assume you are looking for a change, moreover, a change as quickly as possible. So, let me share some of repparttar 136715 wisdom I have gleaned from looking for a home business opportunity.

The two major focal points when looking for a home business opportunity are ones that will:

·optimize your efforts and time ·produce optimal financial rewards

Below are seven simple criteria to consider when looking for a home business opportunity:

1.Look for a business opportunity that offers a product or service that is, or will be, used daily by every household and/or business…

Think about products or services in your house that probably everyone around repparttar 136716 globe uses on a daily basis. For example, services such as utilities, communication, appliances, etc., or products such as shoes, clothing, soap, etc.

Now think bigger – a product or service used on a daily basis AND that would represent a paradigm shift. For example, a paradigm shift was created in global communication when Alexander Graham Bell invented repparttar 136717 telephone. Before 1885, no one had a telephone, nor had they ever heard repparttar 136718 word “telephone”. Today, how many people do you know that do not have a telephone or cell phone?

Another paradigm shift was created when repparttar 136719 first flight was made by repparttar 136720 Wright Brothers in 1903. Today, man has already stood on repparttar 136721 moon. Make yourself a list of products or services in your house that you can research to consider for a business opportunity.

2.Search for a home business opportunity that offers a product or service that has a global market…

It’s a small world. Plain old common sense would tell you that a home business opportunity with a product or service that has a global market would produce warp speed revenue when compared to one that is only within a local, regional, or national area. For example, repparttar 136722 revenue produced from Microsoft with a global market is light years greater than that of a local shoe repair shop.

In addition, as you research this global home business opportunity, you will want to make sure that you are not required to stock products. It is time consuming to order products, receive and send out repparttar 136723 products, manage backlogs, etc., not to mention repparttar 136724 additional costs out of your pocket for shipping and mailing. You also encounter product changes or upgrades that makes your stock obsolete. So, avoid these types of home business opportunities like repparttar 136725 plague.

3.An absolute must! Find a home business opportunity that incorporates leverage in its pay plan…

A business opportunity that incorporates leverage in its pay plan provides repparttar 136726 best of both worlds. Leverage is a relatively simple concept. The best example is probably Ray Kroc and McDonald’s. Ray Kroc set up franchises for McDonald’s that agreed to pay him 3% of their profits.

In essence, McDonald’s sits back and collects 3% of repparttar 136727 profits resulting from others exerting their time and their efforts. Let’s say, just for discussion purposes, that Ray Kroc sold 100 franchises and each produced profits of $50,000 that year. 3% would have produced $150,000 for Ray Kroc, yet he personally exerted no effort or time himself. What he did do though was brilliant, as he applied leverage by selling franchises, and became quite a wealthy man as a result.

Leveraging your home business will minimize your time and effort while maximizing your financial rewards. In a relatively short period of time, your home business will take on a life of its own, and you will be on repparttar 136728 fast track to healthy wealth.

To find a home business opportunity that will rocket you into financial freedom, repparttar 136729 company should incorporate leverage, not only in their business plan, but also in their financial rewards, preferably on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis – one of which should be residual. Residual is important because you want some form of steady income that you can depend on.

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