Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 705

Section 705 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was not codified. It reads as follows:
SEC. 705. STUDY OF INVESTMENT BANKS.

(a) GAO STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United States
shall conduct a study on whether investment banks and financial
advisers assisted public companies in manipulating their earnings
and obfuscating their true financial condition. The study should
address the rule of investment banks and financial advisers—

     (1) in the collapse of the Enron Corporation, including
with respect to the design and implementation of derivatives
transactions, transactions involving special purpose vehicles,
and other financial arrangements that may have had the effect
of altering the company’s reported financial statements in ways
that obscured the true financial picture of the company;

     (2) in the failure of Global Crossing, including with respect
to transactions involving swaps of fiberoptic cable capacity,
in the designing transactions that may have had the effect
of altering the company’s reported financial statements in ways
that obscured the true financial picture of the company; and

     (3) generally, in creating and marketing transactions which
may have been designed solely to enable companies to manipulate
revenue streams, obtain loans, or move liabilities off balance
sheets without altering the economic and business risks
faced by the companies or any other mechanism to obscure
a company’s financial picture.

     (b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall report to Congress
not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act
on the results of the study required by this section. The report
shall include a discussion of regulatory or legislative steps that
are recommended or that may be necessary to address concerns
identified in the study.