119 the adoption of these measures shows that the

119
The adoption of these measures shows that the European Union is placing
greater accountability on companies to ensure that their financial audit reports are accurate.  The
SOX is increasing the responsibilities placed on companies by the FCPA, which in turn is
increasing the regulation of corporate activities, and the international community is starting to
follow a similar trend.
120
This of course is not to say that the enactment of international anti-corruption laws and
accounting regulations are necessarily being enforced to their full extent, similar to the FCPA
when it was first enacted.  Rather these are small steps, in the right direction, towards ending
corruption in the international community.   As gradually more countries are recognizing that
bribery and financial fraud are problems, it is likely that they will impose their regulations more
aggressively.  While it has taken a longer period of time for the international community to react,
enact and enforce regulations that mirror the requirements of the FCPA and SOX, it appears as
116 Companies Act, supra note 114, at art. 8.
117 Id. at art. 9.
118 Council Directive 2006/43, Statutory Audits of Annual Accounts and Consolidated Accounts, 2006 O.J. (L 157)
87, available at .
119 Id. at art. 22.
120 Einhorn, supra note 113.
25

though the international community is starting to recognize the problems of corruption and anti-
bribery that the U.S. initially discovered in 1977.  The global adoption of some of the provisions
of the SOX
121
indicate that requiring American companies to follow accounting standards under
the FCPA is no longer putting these companies at a disadvantage when competing for business
with international companies. Because the international community has taken numerous efforts
towards combating bribery and regulating accounting requirements, American companies are
able to compete more successfully for international contracts, while still following the anti-
bribery and accounting and record-keeping provisions of the FCPA.
With international countries slowly beginning to enforce their anti-corruption laws, it is
no longer as much of a necessity for American companies to pay bribes in order to remain
competitive. 122 In the past, American companies were losing overseas contracts because of
inability to pay bribes to secure business.  Now, in an almost complete reversal of situations,
companies that have violated the FCPA may be excluded from even being considered for
international   transactions   in   the  future.     International   non-profit  organization  Transparency
International 123 performs assessments and opinion surveys on the perceived levels of corruption
121 . While the author notes that the implementation of the SOX was not necessarily the sole cause that the
international community has developed more stringent corporate governance measures, he comments that the US