SOX Isn't Just For The Big Guys

Some private companies are embracing many of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's corporate-governance and financial-reporting requirements, either because they're planning to go public, regulators are forcing them to do so, or it makes good business sense. Others, especially smaller companies, are choosing to remain private rather than incur the added costs of compliance.

Since its passage in 2002 in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals, Sarbanes-Oxley has outgrown its narrow legal confines to become the de facto standard for corporate governance, something with which every company, public or private, wants to be associated.

"I don't think anybody had any idea of the ripple effect of Sarbanes-Oxley," says Bernard Donnelly, quality-assurance VP at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Inc., which has chosen to voluntarily comply with many of the act's guidelines.

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