Sarbanes-Oxley And Dodd Frank: Then There Was Fraud

Abstract

The Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 and the Dodd Frank Act of 2010 are reviewed relative to the results of exploring selected fraud cases discovered in the years 2010 through 2013. These cases reflect that fraud continues to be discovered despite legislated efforts regarding financial fraud. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 responded to continued emergence of financial fraud cases in the years after the legislation of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. Assuming that implementation of Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 would take some time to decrease financial fraud, such cases discovered in the first seven years after the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 were not included in this study. The conclusion and recommendation are that both additional legislation and better enforcement of existing legislation are needed.