Week 7 Assignment: Assess the Effectiveness of SOX Legislation

Activity Description

Prepare a paper in which you address the following:

• Provide a brief historical summary on SOX enactment.
• Identify and explain the key ethical components of the SOX.
• Assess the social responsibility implications regarding mandatory publication of corporate ethics.
• One of the main criticisms of SOX is that its implementation presents an unfair burden on smaller organizations. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
• Recommend potential improvements of the SOX legislation based on your research.
• Support your paper with a minimum of five scholarly resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including older articles, may be included.

Length: 5 pages, not including title and reference pages

Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University's Academic Integrity Policy.

Alignment to Course Learning Outcomes:

3.0   Critique the actions that companies may take to meet ethical considerations relative to social performance, financial performance, and reputation.

4.0   Assess the extent to which social, ethical, and public issues must be considered in internal and external stakeholder relationships.

Week Introduction:

Congress enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) to restore public trust in the markets. Among its ways of achieving this, SOX attempts to improve organizational ethics by defining a code of ethics as including the promotion of honest and ethical conduct, requiring disclosure on the codes that apply to senior financial officers, and including provisions to encourage whistle blowing.

Review the resources listed in the Books and Resources area below to prepare for this week's assignment(s).

Complete the following Spotlight on Skills if you need assistance with the tools used to complete your assignments.

Library Spotlight on Skills: Identifying and Evaluating Information

Review a research study article that you have previously read. Using the information from the websites listed below, evaluate the research article. Was the study well designed? Is the analysis of the study results logical?