Constantly in the media, scandal after scandal comes out in the open—from celebrities to corporations. Some of these scandals just fade into the background after a few weeks, while others forces things to change. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was the result of so many corporate scandals. With this Act, companies are under financial scrutiny. They have regulated that senior executives take personal and individual responsibility for financial records. They hope this will ensure less conflict of interests. Here are some of those companies that caused the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to be placed:

• Enron: An American energy company that went bankrupt in 2001. Enron was based in Houston, Texas and was named "America's Most Innovative Company" for six years straight. It was later discovered that the financial success that Enron was reporting was fraudulent. Enron's major assets were power plants, pipelines, electric utilities/distributors, natural gas-related businesses, and pulp and paper. In 2002, Enron was discovered to have destroyed important financial documents to cover their trail.

• Tyco International: Dennis Kozlowski and Mark H. Swartz were accused of the theft of over $600 million dollars from their company. During their trial, they tried to make the argument that it was all authorized and under the umbrella of compensation. Both men were convicted and sentenced to jail time.

• Adelphia: It was the fifth largest cable company in the entire United States. John Rigas and Timothy Rigas were found to have used some cash management systems with family owned businesses so that they could hide the $100 million that they stole for themselves. John received 15 years in a Federal Correctional Complex and Timothy will be serving 20.

• Peregrine Systems: This computer software company was charged with massive fraud because they falsified sales and extremely exaggerated their revenue reports—all while trying to cover it up. But what's new about that, right?

• WorldCom: Their internal audit team found over $3.8 billion in fraud. And that was discovered in just a normal, routine look at capital expenditures. Total, the company's assets were inflated over $11 billion. They soon filed for bankruptcy.

Because of the horrendous examples of dishonest corporations and executives, many businesses have shaped up. Businesses have seen the importance of using compliance software to ensure that they are aligned with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

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