Sox Has Created a Morass of Expense and Paperwork
Alex J. Pollock | Financial Times
August 03, 2006
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Thanks for Jeremy Grant's interview of Congressman Tom Feeney on Sarbanes-Oxley reform ("Advocate of Sox reform points to capital markets leak", July 31).

Mr Feeney is exactly right to focus on fixing the mistakes made in the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley by regulators and the public accounting firms.

Resident Fellow Alex J. Pollock
These mistakes have hurt the very investors the original act was trying to protect, by creating, as everyone knows, a morass of paperwork, bureaucracy, risk aversion and expense far in excess of any investor benefit. As implementation extends to smaller firms, the damage to investors will expand.

The bill introduced by Mr Feeney and the companion Senate bill introduced by Senator Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, would mandate a number of key corrections to these implementation mistakes.

If enacted, they will actually improve the reputation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and its place in US financial history.

Alex J. Pollock is a resident fellow at AEI.

About the Author

 

Alex J.
Pollock
  • Alex Pollock joined AEI in 2004 after thirty-five years in banking. He was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago from 1991 to 2004. He is the author of numerous articles on financial systems and the organizer of the “Deflating Bubble” series of AEI conferences. In 2007, he developed a one-page mortgage form to help borrowers understand their mortgage obligations. At AEI, he focuses on financial policy issues, including housing finance, government-sponsored enterprises, retirement finance, corporate governance, accounting standards, and the banking system. He is a director of the CME Group, the Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, the International Union for Housing Finance, and the chairman of the board of the Great Books Foundation.

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    Email: apollock@aei.org
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