The Sarbanes Oxley Act, otherwise known in the Senate as the "Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act" or in the House as the "Corporate and Auditing Accountability and Responsibility Act" is a U.S. federal law enacted on the 30th of July, 2002, as a response to many major accounting and corporate scandals including those that affected Tyco International, Enron, Peregrine Systems, Adelphia, and WorldCom.

FINRA or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. is a private company acting as an SRO or self-regulatory organization. It's the successor to the NASD or the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. Though often mistaken as a public or government agency, FINRA is not in any way associated to the U.S. government. It is a private company responsible for regulating the market under contract with trading markets and brokerage firms.

Most people do not have any idea about what securities lawyers do; however, as Americans nervously watch the bear market and have their confidence measured and tested by corporate collapses, the field of securities law has found itself in the limelight.

What is a securities lawyer in the first place? A securities lawyer is a person licensed to practice the rules of conduct in the world of bonds, stocks, and similar instruments and mechanisms from a legal perspective.

These days private companies are trying to build corporate awareness by releasing figures in online press releases with the hopes that it would attract potential investors. In fact, there are several good reasons why some companies prefer to stay private, but with the advantages of going public, a lot of companies are starting out as private companies and then later take their company public through an IPO (Initial Public Offering) to raise some capital.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is a non-profit, private sector created under the 2002 United States Federal Law, called the Sarbanes - Oxley Act. The PCAOB was created to oversee and administer the auditors working for public companies. It aims to protect the investors' and the public's interest in the auditors' preparation of fair, informative, and independent auditors' reports.

A market maker is a company or firm that stands ready to participate in the buying or selling of a particular stock on a continuous or regular basis at a price quoted publicly. Market makers are usually involved in the context of the NYSE, NASDAQ, or other over-the-counter markets. Generally, market makers must be ready to buy and sell a minimum of 100 shares of stocks they are making a market in.

A little over one year ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") amended Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Rule 144"), to, among other things, shorten the holding periods necessary to use this resale exemption for issuers that are subject to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). However, as many companies and shareholders have discovered, the revisions to the holding periods only tell part of the story regarding the impact of these amendments.

A few things to think about while reading this article. First, most of these tips are obvious. However, if I had a share of stock for every time I heard an officer or director of a public company express curiosity about their falling stock price and then went to check the company's compliance with the tips herein and found the last press release from the company issued 1+ years ago and extensions of time filed for the last three periodic reports, I'd have a very large stock portfolio.

The discovery of the pre-salt reservoirs located in the Santos Basin, 300 km from the coast of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, is considered to be one of the greatest discoveries of the recent past, especially for America.

The Tupi oil field was the first to be discovered in the year 2007. Petrobras (Petroleo Brasileiro), the state-controlled oil company, estimated the reserves to be equivalent to about 5 to 8 billion barrels of oil, making it the largest among deep-water oil field finds.

The discovery of the pre-salt reservoirs located in the Santos Basin, 300 km from the coast of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, is considered to be one of the greatest discoveries of the recent past, especially for America.

The Tupi oil field was the first to be discovered in the year 2007. Petrobras (Petroleo Brasileiro), the state-controlled oil company, estimated the reserves to be equivalent to about 5 to 8 billion barrels of oil, making it the largest among deep-water oil field finds.