ABSTRACT
Background Winds of change have been blowing through the corporate world since the Enron collapse. Corporate governance and accountability are now at the top of government and investor agendas — not just in the United States, but also throughout Europe and Asia. Chief executives’ and corporate boards’ responsibilities for control are increasingly demanding. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act will require all companies that are U.S. listed (this includes many of the UK’s largest corporations) to include reporting on internal controls in their annual reports. The programs to achieve compliance with these and probable European-driven legislation are only just beginning. They will have a significant knock-on effect on technology, particularly security governance. And, financial institutions face the additional prospect of complying with the requirements of Basel II.
