To provide accountants serving public companies with a thorough understanding of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the rules and regulations it oversees. You’ll understand what actions governing and regulatory bodies are taking to ensure compliance. You’ll analyze how these rules and regulations change what you need to do. And you’ll gain detailed knowledge about internal accounting control and certification requirements under Sections 302, 906 and 404.

• Background and overview of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• PCAOB: formation, roles and responsibilities
• PCAOB’s auditing standards
• New initiatives
• Auditor Independence
  – Prohibited services 
  – Pre-approval of audit committee 
  – Mandatory reporting to audit committee 
  – Conflicts of interest 
  – Study of rotation of audit firms
• Corporate responsibility
• Audit committee requirements
• Disclosure controls
• Enhanced financial disclosures
• Internal control over financial reporting
• SOX software
• AI and SOX
• What’s new in COSO
• Complying with Section 404
• SSAE 18 update
• Certifications and reports 
   

To provide accountants in public companies with a thorough understanding of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the rules and regulations it generated. You’ll understand what actions governing and regulatory bodies are taking to ensure compliance. You’ll analyze how these rules and regulations change what you need to do. And you’ll gain detailed knowledge about internal accounting control and certification requirements under Sections 302 and 906.

DETAILED LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Identify the public and political climate surrounding the passage of Sarbanes Oxley (the Act)

• Recognize the overall scope of the Act

• Identify the major provisions of the Act, by Title 

• Recognize the Congressional intent behind the creation, within the Act, of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB)

• Identify the professional standards the Act authorized the PCAOB to promulgate

• Identify the frequency with which the PCAOB inspects auditing firms

• Identify prohibited non-audit services under the Act’s independence rules

• Recognize the lead auditor’s mandatory rotation and time-out periods under the Act

• Recognize the client employment positions for which an audit team member would be subjected to the Act’s mandatory “cooling off” provisions

• Identify the structure and constraints applicable to the mandatory audit committee under the Act

• Recognize the subject matter of the Act’s mandatory Section 302 certification

• Recognize the specifics of the clawback provisions of Section 304 of the Act

• Recognize the overall objectives of the Act’s Section 404 ICFR requirements 

• Identify the differences between significant deficiencies and material weaknesses under Section 404

• Identify the role of the COSO framework in the context of ICFR

• Identify the interrelated components of the COSO framework

• Recognize the significance of Section 404 compliance on an on-going basis

• Recognize examples of both “hard” and “soft” controls in the context of Section 404 compliance

• Recognize the primary purpose of the performance of an entity-level assessment of ICFR 

• Identify the role of documentation in the context of Section 404 compliance

• Recognize the exemptions from SOX 404(b) auditor attestation requirement

• Recognize the range of penalties applicable to violations of Section 906 of the Act

• PCAOB: formation, roles and responsibilities
• PCAOB’s auditing standards
• Procedures for hiring and managing external auditors
• Auditor independence and partner rotation requirements and proposed changes
• Audit Committee requirements
• Pending legislation affecting SOX
• Increased penalties for senior management
  – Disgorgement of bonuses and stock option proceeds
  – Lifetime bar from working as an officer of a public company
• Changes to company pension plans and blackout period reporting and notification
• Rules of conduct for attorneys in SEC practice
• Changes in reporting to shareholders, including internal controls, material events, off-balance sheet transactions, code of professional conduct and many more
• Integrating the updated COSO Framework for internal controls
• Prohibition against loans to officers and directors and what constitutes a “loan”
• Changes to SEC reviews of public company reports
• Increased criminal penalties for fraud, destruction of audit records, coercing auditors and impeding an investigation
• Increased protection for corporate whistleblowers