Information Certification under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: Implications for Computing Educators

Information content contained in scheduled annual reports and released to the public is nor-mally accepted as accurate. In addition to the relatively structured format used for preparing the listing, the report is supposed to have been audited by highly reputable accounting con-glomerates. In the new millennium, misinformation and improper relationships between com-panies and auditing firms created a shock in the financial world. To remedy the problem, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed. One of the stipulated provisions required executives to cer-tify that the publicly released information was correct. This study examines the compliance of executives with the information certification provision. Specifically, this research reports on the proportion of companies that are able to meet the deadlines, their auditing firms, and au-diting firm switches. The results of this study should be of interest to law enforcement indi-viduals, accountants, financial auditors, and information systems experts. Computing educa-tors will find the outcomes reported in this study especially useful because complying with governing standards and generating accurate reports affects all types of information systems