Law_Dq

What are some laws that regulate financial transactions for U.S. businesses' Select one of the laws and discuss its implication. Provide support for your answer. The laws that regulate financial transactions for U.S. businesses are : Antitrust Laws –.This law promotes vigorous competition and protect consumers from anticompetitive mergers and business practices. Bankruptcy – Bankruptcy laws protect troubled businesses and provide for orderly distributions to business creditors through reorganization or liquidation. Securities Law – All publicly traded companies need to comply with certain financial and reporting obligations. These include creating clear Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) disclosure documents and complying with Sarbanes-Oxley. In addition to these there are many other laws that regulate financial transactions such as Doff-Frank Act, to govern the financial institutions. GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade has set of rules agreed upon by nations. GATT provides a common institutional framework for trade relations between contracting parties during international transactions. Sarbanes-Oxley was signed into law in 2002 after Enron, WorldCom collapse. It introduced significant legislative changes to financial practice and corporate governance regulation and introduced stringent new rules (University of Phoenix, 2012). The main objective is to “"to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws" (University of Phoenix, 2012). All publicly traded companies including all wholly-owned subsidiaries have to comply. Non-compliance can result into law-suits, negative publicity, fines and imprisonment. A corporate officer who fails to comply or who submits an inaccurate certification is subject to a fine up to $1,000,000 and 10 years in prison, even if the certificate was filed in error. If a false certification was submitted deliberately and with intent, the fine can be up to $5,000,000 and 20 years in prison. Sox requires companies to have internal control in place and include the report with annual financial report. Registered external auditors must attest to the accuracy of the company management’s assertion that internal accounting controls are in place, operational and effective. The cost involved in the internal controls and audit can be very high. References http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/Bankruptcy.aspx http://www.sba.gov/content/finance-law-0 Reference Cheeseman, H.R. (2010). Business law: Legal environment, online commerce, business ethics, and international issues (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Voss, I. (2012). Nonprofit corporations. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, Week 5 Course Materials, MMPBL 570 website, 8/27/2012 Sarbanes-Oxley power point presentation : Retrieved from University of Phoenix