Sarbanes-Oxley may be overkill in its present form

Implications:

Voluntary compliance was in essence what we had before.

Looking at Corporate America more closely is important, but not with a microscope.

The ultimate affect of Sarbanes-Oxley will lead to more money for accounting firms and the creation of compliance issues that may eat into the profit structure more than the adverse affect of lesser compliance.

 

Analysis: Congress is now trying to close the barn door after the horses are out. Although their effort at possibly realizing that the act went too far is valiant, simply relaxing compliance for the smaller players, under 700 million capitalization, is not necessarily the answer. Modification should be equal across the board. Are we in essence playing favorites?

While technical compliance with the act can be modified a close reading of the current act is essential in ascertaining all the guidelines. http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/gwbush/sarbanesoxley072302.pdf

An interesting look at the strategies for compliance can be found at http://www.pwc.com/Extweb/NewCoAtWork.nsf/docid/D0D7F79003C6D64485256CF30074D66C

Importantly, Congress may have an opportunity to turn a great idea into a better model for society. It is important that we do not make it voluntary, otherwise we may end up back where we started.