Whistle-Blower Wins Protection Under Sarbanes-Oxley. AccountingWeb reports that for the first time in history under Sarbanes-Oxley a CFO and whistle-blower, David Welch, was fired and then reinstated with back pay after announcing internal controls failures and other accounting problems.

The whistle-blower, David Welch, was fired as chief financial officer of Cardinal Bankshares Corp. in October 2002 after he expressed concerns about its financial reporting, alleged insider trading and internal controls. He then filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor. The department's Administrative Law Judge Stephen Purcell on Thursday ordered the Bank of Floyd and holding company Cardinal Bankshares Corp. to rehire Welch with back pay.

(Ben Piening)