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Accountability

Public awareness of how quickly financial wrongdoing and a lack of effective controls can devastate some of America's largest and most well-known companies is at its peak. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbanes), was essentially a formal response to major corporate and accounting scandals. Although Sarbanes applies to companies that register securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), NACUBO believes that college and university business officers should regard Sarbanes as an opportunity to further the business officer's defining core objectives, namely, the enhancement of institutional accountability and responsibility.

News

• How Should Higher Education Respond To Sarbanes-Oxley?NACUBO Advisory Report 2003-3, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002: Recommendations for Higher Education suggests measures that colleges might adopt voluntarily to address accountability and governance issues raised by the Act. While it does not apply to public entities or nonprofits, many of the issues the Act addresses are universal.
• Analyze your institution's response to accountability and governance - Advisory Checklist Tool - Page six of the Advisory Report begins a checklist of relevant titles and sections of the Act with corresponding best practices for higher education. Because institutions may want to evaluate current practice along side advisory guidance, the checklist is available in MS Word.

Business Officer Magazine Articles

• Finances in the Clear(July/August 2008)
•  The Substance Of Transparency: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (February 2003)