What is Sarbanes-Oxley? [Paperback]

Guy Lander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2003

Everything corporate employees must know to understand--and comply with--the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

No law in recent memory has caused more confusion and apprehension in corporate America than the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA). What Is Sarbanes-Oxley? is a concise, comprehensive overview of the act, filled with plain-English explanations of the vital details employees at every level must know and understand to help their firms achieve and maintain SOA compliance.

Summarizing the text of the law for ease of understanding and reference, this vital addition to McGraw-Hill's What Is . . . ? series provides readers with:

• Guidelines for ensuring that a company's policies, procedures, systems, and controls are SOA compliant
• Management certification responsibilities and noncompliance penalties­­under hot-button Sections 302, 404, and 906
• Techniques for modifying existing control systems and programs to meet new SOA specifications

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Everything You Need to Know About the Sarbanes-Oxley Act--What It Is, What Your Company Must Do to Comply, and More

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is unquestionably important to corporate America. It can also be complex and confusing, for everyone from the employees who must be doubly aware of what they can--and cannot--do to the officers who must take legal responsibility for the actions, errors, and omissions of those employees.

What is Sarbanes-Oxley? provides you with a plain-English overview of the Act to help ensure that your firm achieves and maintains top-to-bottom Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA) compliance. Written in clear, concise, and readable language, with helpful checklists so that no requirements are overlooked, this SOA primer covers:

• Guidelines for ensuring that your company's policies, procedures, systems, and controls are Sarbanes-Oxley compliant
• Management certification responsibilities--and noncompliance penalties--under Sections 302, 404, and 906
• Techniques for modifying existing control systems and programs to meet new SOA specifications

Today's most competitive corporations--rather than view Sarbanes-Oxley as a painful and costly-to-implement headache--are using SOA as an opportunity to both revitalize their business practices and strengthen their competitive positions. Get the details of what your firm must understand to meet the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in McGraw-Hill's straightforward primer What is Sarbanes-Oxley?

About the Author

Guy P. Lander is an attorney with Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. A frequent speaker on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Lander is the author of several successful law books and former chairman of both the Committee on Securities Regulation and the Business Law Section for the New York State Bar Association. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 114 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (November 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071437967
• ISBN-13: 978-0071437967
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #80 in Books > Law > Business > Securities

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, August 17, 2005

By 

M. Brant "Observer" (Mountain Lakes, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What is Sarbanes-Oxley? (Paperback)

I needed to know more about Sarbanes-Oxley for work and ordered this book. While I was waiting for it to arrive, I went onto the Internet and downloaded some information, including the text of the legislation itself.

I read through the legislation. I'm not an attorney, and I wasn't motivated to cross reference the other laws/acts mentioned. In other words I just read the legislation as is, with no legal background.

When this book arrived, I expected it would provide information and/or interpretations that I was not able to get directly from reading the legislation and other free materials.

In truth, I found there was very little, if anything that I hadn't gathered directly from my other sources. If you are trying to learn what Sarbanes-Oxley is about and choose not to use the available information, this book does describe the basics.

I would not recommend it, because it does not significant add to, or simplify the information readily available for free.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful !, February 23, 2005

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What is Sarbanes-Oxley? (Paperback)

This dry-as-bones handbook gives essential overview information about the numerous, varied requirements of the U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOA). Reading it is much easier than reading the Act itself, mainly because the book is much shorter. Author Guy P. Lander probably comes as close as possible for a practicing securities law attorney to writing in plain English. That does not mean that this book will appeal to the general reader. We believe it will see its best service as a handy reference on the bookshelves of executives responsible for discussing their firms' SOA compliance efforts with their attorneys, auditors and peers.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars **Little** you need to know about Sarbanes Oxley, April 17, 2004

By 

Mr. Kim (Franklin, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What is Sarbanes-Oxley? (Paperback)

The tagline on the book and on the on-line discription -- "Everything corporate employees must know to understand--and comply with--the Sarbanes-Oxley Act" -- is clearly wrong.

The book does provide a "plan-English overview", from about 200,000 feet. In breadth, it does seem to cover each section of the act, but only from an exteremely high summary level.

I was hoping this would be "Sarbanes-Oxley" for dummies, but it doesn't either have the level of explanation or the wit of most "for dummies" books.

This book would be useful for someone who needed a very quick, high-level cursory introduction to Sarbanes-Oxley, but to suggest it is *everything* you, your employees or your company needs to know is absolutely crazy!