With the increase in high-profile securities fraud cases in recent years, new securities fraud laws continue to affect the securities industry. For instance, in 2002, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in response to major accounting scandals at well-known companies such as WorldCom and Enron. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB"), which is a regulating body for the auditing profession. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act also placed additional responsibilities on corporation in terms of financial disclosures, and substantially increased the criminal penalties for white-collar crimes arising from various types of fraud. Companies had to put into place additional safeguards on the issuance of financial statements, such as the requirement that all such financial statements be certified by company executives, and issues reports about various issues on a more regular and extensive basis. By placing these major, stringent requirements on public companies, Congress hoped to restore investor confidence in securities markets, and avoid the widespread fraudulent practices that continue to come to light.