Final answer:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was created to protect shareholders from corporate abuses and failed oversight by enhancing financial transparency and deterring accounting fraud.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was primarily designed to protect shareholders from the excesses and failed oversight of firms. This legislation came into existence as a response to the major accounting scandals of the early 2000s involving corporations like Enron, Tyco International, and WorldCom.
The government introduced the Act to increase confidence in financial information provided by public corporations and to protect investors from accounting fraud. It aimed to ensure that companies followed stricter disclosure requirements, imposed penalties for fraudulent financial activity, and demanded higher standards of corporate governance, particularly in financial reporting.