At the turn of the 21st century, corporate scandals at major companies like Enron, Tyco International, and WorldCom cost investors billions of dollars and shook public confidence in the securities market. In 2002, in direct response to these scandals, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a sweeping set of new standards for the operation of all U.S. public company boards, management, and public accounting firms. Among its many reforms was the requirement that senior officials take personal responsibility for corporate finances.

This book's exploration of the relationship between corporate governance and operations uses the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley law as a guide and the internal controls of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System as the interface medium to unite the strategic and tactical functions of the corporation. In the process, it introduces new concepts of process liability and materiality and stresses management ethics and responsibility, as well as efficient and effective governance.