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ork, with total costs estimated at about $1 million' (Hopkins, 2006). '[If] It costs a company a million dollars extra; you have to be able to handle that,' Griffin said. He went on to say, 'It forces the smaller companies to either grow, to merge or to go private. You can't stay small and absorb those costs' (Hopkins, 2006). One of the complaints is that the law assumed too much; that all businesses will commit the same crimes absent government monitoring. 'Not everyone who operates a public company is involved in accounting issues,' said Lawrence Pemble, Executive Vice President of Bethesda-based Chindex International. 'To impose this level of requirement on everyone, for some people it's not such a huge issue, but for us it is a huge issue. We have no option but to comply.' (Hopkins, 2006).

Strictly speaking, the requirements and prohibitions contained in Sarbanes Oxley do not impact nonprofit entities in the same manner that they impact for-profit entities. However, there are two provisions applicable to all companies across the board. They are the provisions relating to criminal liability for document destruction and for retaliation against whistleblowers. While nearly all of the provisions of the Sarbanes Oxley Act apply to publically traded corporations, the passage of the bill got the attention of the entire nonprofit community as well. 'Sarbanes-Oxley has caused nonprofit leaders to focus upon 'good governance' and review the practices of the nonprofit entities, including (i) the adequacy of internal controls on financial matters, (ii) the effectiveness of board committees, (iii) the understanding of fiduciary duties, and (iv) the importance of conflicts of interest policies' (DeLucia, 2004).

Several state legislatures have passed or are considering legislation containing elements of the Sarbanes Oxley Act to be applied to nonprofit organizations. Even if not mandated by law, nonprofit leaders should look carefully at the provisions outlined in the Sarbanes Oxley Act and voluntarily adopt these practices. 'Regardless of the present scope of existing and potential new legislation at the state and federal level, nonprofit organizations have heard the wake-up call. For all of us in the sector, the Sarbanes Oxley Act spearheaded a renewed realization that nonprofit organizations rely on -and must protect- the indispensable and unequivocal confidence and trust

of our constituents. Self-regulation and proactive behavior will always prove more powerful than compulsory respect of laws' (Board Source, 2006).

In many instances, nonprofits have already voluntarily altered practices and adopted policies in response to SOX. Some of the recommendations for nonprofits include: conducting outside audits, establishing at least one financial committee, changing auditors every five years, following GAAP guidelines, and striving for greater disclosure and transparency. All nonprofit organizations that conduct outside audits, particularly medium to large organizations, should consider forming an audit committee and should separate the audit committee from the finance committee. Further, the audit committee should be composed of individuals who are not compensated for their service on this committee and do not have a financial interest in, or any other conflict of interest with, any entity doing business with the organization.

The implementation of the Sarbanes Oxley Act has created a new 本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。