Taking your company public, but keep your company records and accounting straight.

The first year of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has produced an impressive record of accomplishments in an incredibly short period of time. The Act set ambitious deadlines for more than 15 separate rulemaking projects by the Commission to implement many of the Act's provisions. The Commission provided a number of opportunities for public input on its proposals, and we carefully studied thousands of letters of public comment in crafting final rules. The bulk of the required rulemaking was required by January 26, 2003, and this past January was the busiest month of rulemaking in Commission history. The Act also called for several mandated studies on particular aspects of the capital markets.

So now what do you do if you want to go public and keep your company adherent to all of the new rules and laws?

Because of the dedicated efforts of the Commission and the select corps of professionals who work at the SEC, I am pleased to say we have met all of the mandates and challenges set out by the Act, and in record time. Moreover, we met these deadlines without sacrificing our other work or obligations — including our robust enforcement program and numerous regulatory initiatives unrelated to Sarbanes-Oxley.

The Act also provided welcome new enforcement tools to combat corporate fraud, punish corporate wrongdoers and deter fraud with the threat of stiffer penalties. The Commission, both on its own and in conjunction with the President's inter-agency Corporate Fraud Task Force, is moving decisively to utilize these new tools to expose and punish acts of corruption, improve corporate responsibility and protect America's investors.