After major financial and accounting scandals like those that affected Tyco, Worldcom, and Enron, the federal government passed a law known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, also known under the name Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act. This law was passed in hopes of thwarting the illegal and deceptive acts of financial journalists and halting the decline in public confidence in accounting and reporting practices. Two important topics covered by Sarbanes-Oxley are auditor independence and reporting and evaluating internal controls under Section 404. Sarbanes-Oxley contains eleven titles and covers a wide range of topics ranging from implementing implemented new requirements for compliance with criminal sanctions in the event of violations. decisions. A very important aspect addressed in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is the independence of auditors. The independence of auditors and the role they play in corporate financial reporting in the wake of all corporate scandals has become extremely important. It has become increasingly important in an auditor's training and professional ethics. The objective of auditor independence is to ensure that the auditor “is unbiased and unbiased with respect to the financial statements and other information that he or she audits”0. There are three aspects of practical auditor independence: programming independence, investigative independence, and reporting independence. Independence in reporting is extremely important because it is the main objective of auditor independence, the prevention of any influence by the client on the outcome of what is to be reported. It is crucial for an auditor not to feel the need to be fair or supportive in their reporting to the client. The auditor's obligation is to report...... middle of paper ...... in a favorable manner by eliminating the opportunity for an auditor to profit from the manner in which he or she reports the financial statements d 'an audit client. Whereas Section 404 takes an internal approach to ensure that management does what it can to establish effective internal controls and is accountable for them. Works Cited Maintaining Auditor Independence The Edge, November 11, 2002 http://www.pwc.com/extweb/indissue.nsf/DocID/607E8C1B96B9DC31CA256C6F002C846F#4Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw. com/hdocs/docs/gwbush/sarbanesoxley072302.pdfhttp://www.Sarbanes-oxley.comRamos, Michael Section 404 Compliance in the October 2004 Annual Report http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/ oct2004/ramos.htmRobertson, Jack C and Louwers, Timothy J.Auditing & Assurance Services, 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.