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| HR Plays a Role in Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance |
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| The Sarbanes-Oxley Act went into effect on July 30, 2002, and establishes strict financial reporting requirements for public companies in the United States. In the wake of its passing, and in light of some of the accounting scandals that took place in the 1990s, many bankers and investors are now expecting private businesses to display greater accountability and placing a larger reporting burden on companies. |
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 - Request for Changes to SOX |
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A recent study conducted by McKinsey & Co. recommends that some non-U.S. companies be exempt from the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate-governance regulations. After interviews with 50 CEOs and business leaders and a survey of 305 other executives in the financial-services industry, the report stated that without legal and regulatory changes, within 10 years the United States could lose its status as the center of world financial might. The report was commissioned by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer, who both suggested that small companies be permitted to “opt out” of provisions of the law as long as they disclose it to shareholders. According to Barbara Roper, director of investment programs for the Consumer Federation of America, the Bloomberg-Schumer report “starts from a mistaken premise and reaches an erroneous conclusion. Investors come to our markets because we protect capital better than any other market in the world. If you start eroding those protections, you erode our best basis for competing.”
 WHITE PAPER: SOX Compliance and Automation - A Benchmark Report
WEBCAST: HR’s Role in Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
WEBCAST: Is Your HR Team Ready for 2006 Sarbanes-Oxley Demands?
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A study conducted by the national law firm Foley & Lardner LLP (“The Cost of Being Public in the Era of Sarbanes-Oxley,” presented by Thomas E. Hartman, June 16, 2005) states that from the time SOX was enacted through fiscal year 2004, the average costs of being public have increased a total of $2.4 million, a 223% increase. |
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Foley & Lardner’s 2005 study found that 82% of respondents felt that corporate governance and public disclosure forms implemented since the enactment of SOX are too strict, an increase of 15% compared with the firm’s 2004 survey. |
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