The Dodd-Frank Act is more commonly described as “that Wall Street reform law Congress passed last year”—but compliance officers know the law also imposes a slew of new rules on all public companies, and re-grades the regulatory landscape for several industries well beyond banking.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...