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SOX Changes the Ink from Red to Black

By Michael T. Ellington
June 28, 2004

In the last year and a half, public companies have been entrenched in their compliance or plan to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Regardless of the size, industry or profitability of the company, this task is proving to be much more consuming than originally thought. The first surveys of direct costs associated with compliance indicate a flow of red ink in the billions. The indirect cost may, by all accounts, be just as large. Do these staggering costs have any benefit other than compliance and therefore survival?

SOX has been characterized by many as a hastily prepared, poorly written piece of legislation. Most agree some reform was necessary after the revelation of the alleged and acknowledged misconduct by and systematic failures of several corporations and their advisers. However, the sweeping, all-inclusive nature of the most significant change in securities regulation in 50 years is all but overwhelming to many public companies. While SOX was intended to restore faith in the capital markets and is supported by many, it is not without its criticisms.

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