The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Five Years Later:
Assessing its Impact, Chartering its Future
University of Maryland School of Law
October 18-19, 2007
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("SOX" or the "Act") was enacted in response to several major accounting and corporate governance scandals at large public companies including those at Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. Such scandals eroded investor confidence in accounting practices, financial disclosure, and public corporations more generally. By introducing accounting and other governance reforms, the Act represented an effort to restore that confidence. The Act represents the most far-reaching reform to the securities laws since the 1930s. On the fifth anniversary of its enactment, this conference seeks to bring together academics, practitioners, and leaders in the business community to analyze the Act's impact to date, and discuss issues that may both facilitate and hinder its future effectiveness.
Conference Program
Thursday, Oct. 18 | ||
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3:15-3:30 |
Opening Remarks
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3:30-5:30 |
Roundtable on Corporate Ethics
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5:30-6:30 |
Reception
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Friday, Oct. 19 | ||
8:30-10:30 |
SOX and Regulation of the Accounting Industry
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10:45-12:15 |
SOX and the Capital Markets
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12:15-1:45 |
Lunch and Keynote Address
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2:00-3:30 |
SOX and Criminal Enhancements
SOX not only enhanced criminal penalties and sentences for violations of
various securities and federal laws, but also played a role in the increased
prosecutions of white-collar crime more generally. This panel brings together
academics with prosecutors and white-collar criminal defendants to address
SOX's impact on criminal enforcement efforts as well as the effectiveness of
those efforts and the extent to which they will be sustain in the long-term.
This panel also will discuss the proper role of criminal sanctions in the
corporate environment.
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3:45-5:15 |
The Influence of SOX on Internal Constituents
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5:15-5:30 |
Closing Remarks
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