Carolyn Aver, CFO of Agile Software, producers of product lifecycle management software, recently participated in a Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission initiative in an attempt to make more egalitarian some of the stricter provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley, in particular Section 404, which many blame for creating an enormous financial strain on companies. According to AMR Research, U.S. public companies will spend $6 billion complying with Sarbanes-Oxley this fiscal year, which will pay for everything from staffing to consultant fees to mail-archiving software.
"I agreed to participate to try to help set the standards by which smaller companies can comply in a way that best suits their business and not just in the same way that a Fortune 50 company would comply," Aver says. "We can all be held to the same standard, but that can be accomplished differently, depending on a company's size and complexity. In the end, Section 404 is causing the most amount of discussion and the greatest cost because it's akin to a separate audit."
And then there is Sarbanes-Oxley's infamous Section 409, which went into full effect just weeks ago. It mandates that companies "shall disclose to the public on a rapid and current basis such additional information concerning material changes in the financial condition or operations of the issuer, in plain English, which may include trend and qualitative information and graphic presentations." It's safe to say it's impossible to gauge how many companies will rise to the letter of that law.
Some, such as Cisco, have already gone the whole nine yards. Others may prefer to risk penalties than break the bank meeting requirements -- particularly if lobbyists may one day soften regulations. But many analysts agree that the era of accountability has no end and that companies must find ways to adapt, no matter how painful.
"Compliance is never a once-and-done exercise," Scalable's McBride notes. "You've got to find a way to get there and stay there."
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