Atlanta bank believes strict internal controls meet new federal requirements.
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Mar. 16–As chairman and chief executive officer of Atlanta-based Flag Financial Corp., Joseph W. Evans is a banker who believes the proverbial buck stops with him. And his bank has just shelled out more than $200,000 to prove it to regulators. The company, parent to Flag Bank, spent the money to test its internal controls over accounting procedures and other bank processes. Today , Flag Financial and companies across the country will report to the Securities and Exchange Commission that they’ve set up controls required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, to ensure no material misstatements in their financials. The regulations, brought about by corporate scandals of recent years — Enron and WorldCom being the biggest — aim to bring transparency to financial statements by forcing company officials… |