Technology and Corporate Risk Management

It's a fact: Litigation costs have skyrocketed over the last two decades. In the securities industry, this trend is evident in that governmental inquires into the practices and dealings of financial and corporate entities on the heels of the MCI WorldCom and Enron scandals have shown no signs of abating. The shareholder actions resulting from these scandals have done little to restore investor confidence. To ameliorate the situation and shore up public confidence in a system that has been operating in a de facto mode of "irrational exuberance," a host of legislation has been introduced to address the need for greater accountability and transparency in the way our financial institutions and corporations conduct their affairs. The most significant legislation is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Comprised of 11 parts and 66 sections, this is broadest piece of legislation out of Washington since the 1933 and 1934 U.S. Securities Acts.