Final answer:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act applies to all publicly held companies in the United States and aims to protect investors by increasing the confidence in financial information provided by these companies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was enacted in 2002 in response to a number of major accounting scandals involving prominent corporations such as Enron, Tyco International, and WorldCom. The primary objective of the SOX is to increase confidence in the financial information provided by public corporations and to protect investors from accounting fraud. Therefore, the correct answer to the question is: D) all publicly held companies. SOX applies to all publicly held companies in the United States, without a revenue threshold, ensuring that they adhere to strict regulatory standards to promote transparency and accountability in financial reporting.