Last week, the British House of Lords introduced its own version of Sarbanes-Oxley in an effort, according to MP Jacqui Smith, to "raise corporate performance across the board and beyond."

Smith

The bill, known as "The Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Bill," would force companies to publish non-audit services provided by their auditors, impose new independent auditing standards, and require directors to state they haven't withheld material information from auditors.

The bill would also give new powers to the Financial Reporting Review Panel, known ominously in Britain as "The Panel," which oversees industry-wide compliance with financial reporting statutes.

The complete bill is available below:

  Download Britain's Companies Bill