Twenty years ago, in the aftermath of the Enron and WorldCom financial reporting scandals, Congress acted and created the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). The legislation led to significant changes in how companies designed and monitored internal controls and how their auditors evaluated them.

Maria L. Murphy, CPA, is a regular contributor to Compliance Week. She is a senior content management analyst, accounting and auditing products, CCH tax and accounting North America for Wolters Kluwer....