Opinion: Sensationalism Has No Place in Corporate Governance

Time to Start Thinking Differently about Business

By Rob Preston Courtesy of Network Computing

So troubled were we by companies playing fast and loose with accounting, data management and other practices that we sicced the politicians on them. The result is a host of new regulations and lawsuits that heap billions of dollars in costs onto thousands of companies in the name of weeding out billions of dollars of wrongdoing among a handful of them. Any chance we're overreacting or focusing on the wrong places?

No way, say proponents of the crackdown, who point to the recent spate of CEO firings and departures as evidence that regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley are thrusting accountability back into the executive suite. If not for new rules that require boards to appoint more independent directors and act transparently, they say, the financial and ethical offenses that forced management changes at Boeing, Fannie Mae, Hewlett-Packard and other companies would have continued unchecked.

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