Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Sarbanes-Oxley: Tech's big complaint of 2005

Silicon Valley is never short on opinions, especially when it comes to explaining why the government should butt out of its affairs.

But few are bold enough to go on the record when the subject turns to Uncle Sam's fumbling--real or imagined.

Not so, when the issue is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

SOX became law nearly two-and-a-half years ago, in the wake of a string of corporate financial scandals that nearly wrecked public confidence. The idea was to force companies to eliminate "creative accounting" and accurately report what was going on. SOX also carried the threat of penalties if the folks at the top of the company--the chief executive, the chief financial officer and the board of directors--failed to certify that the numbers were accurate and that they had reviewed internal controls, identifying any concerns they might have come across.

See full Article.