Retaliation: What You Need to Know

Question 1 

The protections whistleblowers are provided largely relate to retaliation. In its interpretative guidance, SEC clarifies that the Dodd-Frank Act whistleblower protection is applicable to those whistleblowers who provide information to the SEC as per the procedures for getting a whistleblower award as well as whistleblowers who avail information on possible violation of securities law both internally and to the SEC (Kohn, 2017). 

Question 2 

Many people chose not to blow the whistle out of fear of retaliation as well as the consequences of blowing the whistle. In its interpretation of the Dodd-Frank’s of the anti-retaliation laws, the SEC acknowledges that absence of strong whistleblower protection would make people reluctant to report the violation of securities laws and other fraud to the SEC (Kohn, 2017). Limited knowledge of the protections that exist for whistleblowers also makes many people reluctant to blow the whistle. 

Question 3 

Disagree. The SOX provisions relating to internal controls requires all publicly traded companies to form internal and independent audit committees. The main responsibilities of this committee are to ensure that any fraud or violation of securities law is detected as early as possible. In addition to that, SOX also requires publicly traded companies to put in place procedures for the filing of internal whistleblower complaints. The strong internal control measures are not a liability and instead make it possible for corporations to solve any potential issues before they blow out of proportion (Kohn, 2017). 

Question 4 

The enactment of SOX resulted in a total revision of the regulatory framework as far as the auditing profession and public accounting are concerned. Despite having a number of highly controversial provisions, SOX has made a significant contribution to the generation of greater focus on stronger ethics and compliance programs as well as improved corporate governance 

Question 5 

One of the impacts that SOX has had is making audit committees for publicly traded companies stronger. Under these laws, the audit committees now have a wide leverage when it comes to overseeing the accounting decisions that top management makes. SOX has also resulted in significant changes in management’s responsibility for financial reporting. Top managers now have to personally confirm the accuracy of financial reports (Blokhin, 2015). 

Question 6 

For non-profit and privately owned companies, SOX has not had any significant impact. The main focus of the legislation is on public companies and auditing firms. For auditing firms, SOX established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board that sets the standards for public accountants (Blokhin, 2015). 

References 

Blokhin, A. (2017). What impact did the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have on corporate governance in the United States? Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/052815/what-impact-did-sarbanesoxley-act-have-corporate-governance-united-states.asp 

Kohn, S. (2017). Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Legal Protection for Corporate Whistleblowers . Retrieved from http://www.whistleblowers.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27