During the 1990s, the United States experienced one of the most successful economic periods in history. The country's GDP increased dramatically and unemployment was at a historically low level. With the success of the U.S. economy during this period extending into the next decade, revelations of corporate scandals and corporate governance oversight came to light. The Enron scandal of 2001 and the Wall Street crash of 2008 are two notable events of inadequate accounting policies that led to economic catastrophe over the past decade. Enron Corporation's faulty accounting practices were perpetuated through the use of fraudulent special interest entities that were used to hide losses and increased debt incurred by the company during prior fiscal periods. Wall Street's meltdown can largely be attributed to the use of mortgage-backed securities and other creative investment vehicles that have been deployed around the world as safe investments with rewarding returns. Both of these events were the product of the misuse and abuse of off-balance sheet accounting methods. Government reactions have included the creation and revision of new and existing laws and governing bodies. As a direct result of current corporate scandals, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) was created. At the time, SOX was the first and most influential overhaul of the financial system in response to the current wave of corporate corruption. A provision of SOX established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The intent of SOX and its provisions was to "protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made under the securities laws and for other purposes" (Sarbanes-Oxley Ac...... middle of paper... ....R. Res. 3763, Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 107th Cong., 107-204 Public Law 116 STAT. “Model for the Transition from the Ethical Deficit to a Transparent Corporate Culture: A Response to the Financial Meltdown Journal of Academic and Business Ethics, Fall, 2009. Weissman, Robert, and James Donahue. “Wall Street's Best Investment: 10 Deregulatory Steps Toward the January/February multinational financial meltdown." (2009): 10-31. Jeffrey, Peter. "International Harmonization of Accounting Standards and the Off-Balance Sheet Treatment Issue." Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 12,341 (2002): 341-51 .Feng, Mei, Gramlich, Jeffrey D. and Gupta, Sanjay, “Special Purpose Entities: Empirical Evidence on Management Determinants and Earnings.” The Audit (January 9, 2006). 1-55.