The SEC is seeking, through its enforcement actions, to shape the behavior of high-ranking executives, and it plans to do so by targeting their bonuses when their firms engage in wrongdoing.

SEC officials signaled at the SEC Speaks conference last week that they’re pursuing a more aggressive use of a section of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that empowers the commission to clawback certain compensation bonuses and stock sale profits from CEOs and CFOs when their firms have to reissue an accounting statement because of misconduct.