The Sarbanes-Oxley Act arrived in 2002, and suddenly compliance executives were thrust into “the post-SOX era.” We all know that era wasn’t exactly fun, and most of Corporate America has wished sometime in the last six years that a new era would come along to replace the old. Well, you have your wish. Welcome to […]
Matt Kelly
Posted inFrom the Archive
Editorial: Obama, Compliance, and Rolling When the Agenda Goes to Hell
I’ve always thought that Barack Obama really clinched the White House during the third presidential debate—you know, the one starring Obama, John McCain, and Joe the Plumber. Obama impressed me during that debate for all the usual reasons: his well-thought and well-articulated policies, his clarity, his demeanor. But above all I was impressed with how […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Dude, Where’s My SEC Chairman?
President-elect Barack Obama presented his economic team to the world this week. A new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commissioner was not part of the picture. That says a lot. For the record, I applaud the nominees Obama presented on Monday: Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary; Larry Summers as chairman of the National Economic […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
SOX Lawsuit Keeps Refusing to Die
From the I’d-rather-watch-paint-dry department: That conservative outfit still arguing that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is unconstitutional has, yet again, lost a court dispute and vowed to appeal. Earlier this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., voted 5-4 not to review the case, which argues that the structure of the Public Company Accounting Oversight […]
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What Attorney General Eric Holder Means to You
Corporate America had its first glimpse into the Obama Administration’s thinking yesterday with the news that Eric Holder, a partner at the law firm of Covington and Burling, will be nominated to be our next attorney general. Sure, we’re still in the rumor phase of this news, but the Obama team hasn’t made any mistakes […]
Posted inAccounting & Auditing
Whither the Internal Audit Department?
All you internal auditors out there, take note: PricewaterhouseCoopers has published a paper clarifying what you ought to do with your life. Titled “Internal Audit: An opportunity for transformation,” the paper suggests internal audit departments should shift their focus to auditing business risks to protect shareholder value. For too long, the authors say, companies have […]
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Early Returns on Section 404
One bit of political flotsam flushed away in last night’s blue deluge: U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida. Feeney, a three-term Republican from central Florida, has been an outspoken critic of Sarbanes-Oxley and specifically of applying its notorious Section 404 provisions to small companies. Well, he lost last night. Democrat Suzanne Kosmas drubbed him out […]
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Editorial: A Crisis of Confidence Reminds Us of Why Governance Matters
Originally I planned to write in this space about the vacation to China I took back in September. I had dreams of portraying China as a great nation with even greater potential, and then shredding the illusion that China’s governance is anywhere near what the West expects it to be. Well, shredding another nation’s governance […]
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The SEC Irrelevance Factor and You
You’ve got to feel a bit of sympathy for SEC Chairman Christopher Cox these days. The SEC faces a Gordian knot on the regulatory front, certainly. But the SEC also faces a deeper, more serious political crisis: It is becoming irrelevant in the conversation now occurring across Washington to decide what should happen next. Cox […]
Posted inFrom the Archive
Live at XBRL International
The Big Picture has gone on the road to Washington, D.C., to attend the XBRL International annual conference. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox is scheduled to speak this morning, and rumor is he might unveil the SEC’s final rule for mandating XBRL use in financial reporting. I suspect that’s not true, since the credit crisis has […]