The weekly readings say that the government is "very concerned about fraud". As part of this concern, they passed the Sarbanes Oxley act of 2002 (SOX) in response to various accounting scandals. One criteria for controls is that they should be cost-beneficial (would you put a $3,000 alarm system on your $500 college car?). In that respect, I take the devil's advocate position that SOX has been a complete failure. Accounting frauds continue despite the astronomical cost of SOX compliance imposed on companies.
1. Research the cost of compliance for companies in regard to SOX
2. Can you find evidence that fraud is trending down since the passage of SOX?
3. Can you find any quantitative or qualitative benefit to SOX since its' passage?