Yes, SOX has changed the practice of accounting in following
ways:
- The Sarbanes-Oxley Act changes management's responsibility for
financial reporting significantly. The act requires that top
managers personally certify the accuracy of financial reports.
- The Sarbanes-Oxley Act significantly strengthens the disclosure
requirement. Public companies are required to disclose any material
off-balance sheetarrangements, such as operating leases and special
purposes entities.
- It requires public companies to perform extensive internal
control tests and include an internal control report with their
annual audits. Testing and documenting manual and automated
controls in financial reporting requires enormous effort and
involvement of not only external accountants, but also experienced
IT personnel.