Are the benefits of Sarbanes-Oxley worth the cost?

Bob Ross used to love his job as controller of clothing and housewares retailer Urban Outfitters. Today, he says, "I have no passion for this at all. If something doesn't change soon, I'll have to throw in the towel."

Ross says he now spends his days "documenting countless procedures and processes, which to most employees of this company are second nature." Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires companies to document their controls, cost his company at least a penny per share in 2004, he says, and turned his job into "a struggle to explain common sense."

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