Claudia+Presentation


 * SOX** (7 minutes / 4 slides)

The [|Sarbanes-Oxley-Act] (or SOX) increases corporate responsibility for fraudulent activities, requires stricter disclosure within company financial statements and steps up enforcement measures to counter such actions. The impact on business in the US is a contentious issue. Most commentators stress its negative impacts as it significantly raises the costs involved in setting up the respective control systems. Another issue concerns non-US companies and the question to what extent they establish or keep operations in the USA.

Sources: [|www.sarbanes-oxley.com] http://www.s-ox.com/feature/detail.cfm?articleID=1385 http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/accounting/docs/speaker_papers/spring2005/Zhang_Ivy_Economic_Consequences_of_S_O.pdf http://www.answers.com/topic/sarbanes-oxley-act-of-2002-sox?cat=biz-fin "Der Sarbanes-Oxley Act" (in: FinanzBetrieb 2002)


 * Sociatal impact** (3 minutes / 1 slides)

Enron offered a 401 (k) pension plan to its employees. The 401 (k) is a type of employer-sponsored [|retirement plan] in the [|United States], where a portion of the employee’s [|wage] is deferred directly into his or her 401(k) account while deferring income taxes on these retirement savings. Enron encouraged its employees to invest their retirement savings in Enron’s stocks. At the end of 2000 more than 50 per cent of assets in Enron’s 401 (k) retirement plan were invested in the company. Beyond this some pension funds like the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers) and the Arkansas Teachers’ pension scheme even invested in Enron’s ‘special purpose entities’. Many Americans also invest their retirement savings in index funds, which also invested in Enron as it was member of the Standard and Poors (S&P) 500 Index. Enron stock was furthermore part of the investment portfolios of many state pnsion plans. As the value of Enron stock declined, many American citizens and especially Enron employees lost nearly all of their retirement savings.

sources http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/business/2002/enron/timeline/default.stm http://www.bsu.edu/mcobwin/majb/?p=199 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8282(200403)94%3A1%3C329%3AHW4PPA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8282%28200305%2993%3A2%3C398%3AESA4P%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage http://www.newleftreview.org/?page=article&view=2377 http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,201871,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,174048,00.html

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