Final answer:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in 2002 in response to major accounting scandals, with the goal of increasing confidence in public corporate financial information and protecting investors from fraud.
Step-by-step explanation:
The act that was passed in 2002 and marked one of the most sweeping corporate reforms since the Securities Act of 1934 is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. This legislation came into existence following a series of major accounting scandals involving prominent corporations such as Enron, Tyco International, and WorldCom. The main goal of Sarbanes-Oxley was to increase confidence in the financial information provided by public corporations and to protect investors from the threat of accounting fraud. It mandated numerous reforms to enhance corporate governance and financial practices, thereby preventing corporate and accounting scandals in the future.