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Repeal The Sarbanes-Oxley Tax Now!
from the sounds-reasonable dept
Many people agree that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was simply an overreaction to all the corporate scandals from the last year, and that it's unlikely to do much to stop thieving, scamming execs. However, there is very real cost for companies to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and it's hitting smaller companies especially hard. The article talks about how it's costing Borland an additional $3 million, at a time when that money could clearly be better spent. At the same time, it's creating a "cover your ass culture", according to the CEO of Tibco. Instead of responding to customer demand, they're now spending all their time looking at the possible impact of any move in accordance to the new Act. I agree that executives need to be held more responsible, but it seems that a law like this probably should have been passed after some more careful thought and discussion, instead of immediately following the exposure of some of the excesses. As it stands now, Sarbanes-Oxley seems likely to hinder many businesses without doing much to stop criminal behavior. As such, it doesn't seem particularly useful.
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Re: No Subject Given
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act does nothing to protect shareholders. Nothing.
It adds a law that makes all publicly traded companies need their auditors approval on a lot of things that are often not only unnecessary, they are counterproductive.
The Auditors often do not have real world experience in the areas where they are dictating changes. The cost in extra audits, as well as adding processes to be compliant far exceed anything they are geared to protect.
and here's a newsflash for you... added, non-productive, non-value added costs to all U.S. publicly traded companies adds an additional barrier to their ability to compete with private domestic companies, as well as foreign companies not burdened with this horrible law that only benefits the audit companies (who are making out like bandits right now!)
It also adds a HUGE disincentive for any company that was even *thinking* if issuins an IPO. Now they do not enter the market, and they save all those unnecessary costs.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is bad for business and bad for the U.S. It needs to be repealed and repealed soon!!
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