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
3:15-3:30
Opening Remarks
3:30-5:30
Roundtable on Corporate Ethics
5:30-6:30
Reception
Friday, Oct. 19
8:30-10:30
SOX and Regulation of the Accounting Industry
10:45-12:15
SOX and the Capital Markets
12:15-1:45
Lunch and Keynote Address
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.
3:45-5:15
The Influence of SOX on Internal Constituents
5:15-5:30
Closing Remarks

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