ENFORCEMENT
Assignment 2: Accounting and Audit Enforcement (SOX)
Tasha Etter
ACC 599 - Accounting Capstone
Dr. Randolph Stanley
November 19, 2017
, ACCOUNTING AND AUDIT 2
ENFORCEMENT
SOX Regulations and Audit Enforcement
Introduction
As we acknowledge the fifteenth (15th) year anniversary of the establishment and
implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which officially took effect in the summer of
2002, it requires an analysis of its true effectiveness on publically traded companies, and the
implications it may have for non-profit organizations now and in the near future within the
healthcare industry. A specific focus will be on the underlying effects SOX has had on for-profit
organizations while purporting if such regulations can be beneficial to non-profit organizations in
the future, with the continued goal of providing a benchmark from which all business can operate
from with fraud prevention in mind. It will also take a look at a healthcare organization that has
been charged with improprieties regarding financial fraud and identify whether mandating SOX
for both profit and non-profit organizations will be beneficial in the future.
Additional, this assignment will explore allegations made against Tenet Healthcare
Corporation in 2013, for engaging in fraudulent activity in the form of bribery and kickbacks that
were offered to smaller clinics in the state of Georgia for unwarranted patient referrals.
Members of the organization did so to gain reimbursements from Medicaid, and Medicare
governmental programs for referrals and services offered unnecessarily (Dept. of Justice, Oct.3,
2016).
1. Evaluate the level of SOX regulations that applies to for-profit and not-for-profit health
care organizations, indicating whether or not mandating SOX requirements for non-profits
might
reduce fraud and increase corporate governance. Provide support for your rationale.
Publically traded organizations, regardless of industry, must adhere to SOX regulations to
avoidpenalties, be it financial or otherwise, issued by the SEC or other government agencies.