
Home

Business Topics Main

Accounting

Campus Operations

Finance

Leadership & Management

Planning & Budgeting

Student Financial Services

Tax

Technology

	My NACUBO Join NACUBO Login Site Map Contact Us

Home > Business Topics > Accounting > Accounting Topics > Accountability, Governance and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

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 File

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 Article
The Substance Of Transparency: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (February 2003)

Professional Development

Sarbanes-Oxley Webcast on Demand - The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 directly affects publicly traded companies but will impact higher education as well. This Web Cast is now available in On-Demand format. You can view the event as often as you like and download resources from the program.