Congress created the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in response to scandal. It passed SOX to help improve investor confidence in publicly traded companies. SOX places rules on public companies and other organizations that promote trustworthy financial reports. The scope of SOX extends to any public company functions or processes that impact financial reporting. The scope of SOX within a company is very broad. SOX requires that companies review many IT processes to make sure that they are trustworthy.

The scope of SOX is broad. Its influence extends even to organizations that are not required to follow it. For example, private companies and nonprofit organizations may choose to follow SOX to show their commitment to good governance.