6.
Company members falsifying, altering, destroying or otherwise tempering with organizational documents risk punishments between fines up to 20 years imprisonment
7.
Organizational staff members notifying their superiors or the legal authorities of fraudulent operations are protected under the whistleblower protection provision. People who retaliate against the individuals who offer condemning information of the company are punished with anything between a fine up to ten years imprisonment (Prahalad, 2008).
As an addition to these provisions, it is automatically implied that the auditor will keep an objective opinion and will perform his tasks within the highest standards of professional quality. Yet, since it is possible for the auditor to have shares in the respective organization, have a child employed there or other such situations, he is asked to identify the existence of any conflicts of interest and withdraw from the audit process.
At a first level, the Sarbanes-Oxley act was expected to lead to increased organizational expenditures due to necessities of complying with more regulations and necessities of hiring specialized accountants and auditors within company teams. Additionally, aside incremental expenditures, impacts were observable in terms of organizational functions and internal efficiencies. While the organizational functions became more complex, a necessity aroused in the separation of accounting from control and consultancy (Fass, 2003). This led to decreased organizational...
This consequently led to an increased trust of both consumers as well as investors in the business sector. "Overall, the Act has strengthened the Commission's [the Security and Exchange Commission] ability to obtain meaningful remedies as well as powerful but fair sanctions against wrongdoers, aided in the greater return of investor funds, created new causes of action, provided the Commission with more flexibility in choice of forum, and enhanced the Commission's ability to continue to conduct thorough, effective, and fair investigations" (Donaldson, 2005).
