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| Friday, November 20, 2009 |
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ANALYSIS
March 2, 2009
Sagging Index no longer reflects what’s going on in the market, some say, Replacements? Google it, to start.
March 2, 2009
Downward price spiral will actually boost the cost of capital for most companies. CFOS, take note.
March 2, 2009
The latest bailout at AIG could be a preview of how the president will deal with Wall Street.
March 2, 2009
No corporate defaults. Big debt offerings. Percolating CP issuance. Things may be looking up in the capital markets.
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October 8, 2007 12:01 AM ET
A Treasury Department committee in coming months may examine the issue that gets finance executives hottest under the collar about Sarbanes-Oxley—rising auditor costs. The committee will examine the sustainability of the auditor profession. Announcing the members last week, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that “[SarbOx] fundamentally altered the interaction between auditors and corporate management and boards of directors in a number of ways, some of which are not altogether constructive.” Also, while most people think SarbOx improved audits, there are also concerns that auditors have become “overly cautious,” which has led to increased costs and decreased competition and innovation, said committee co-chair Donald Nicolaisen, a former chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The committee, which includes former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt as co-chair, as well as representatives from banks, law firms, unions, audit firms and corporations, among others, will meet at least seven times and plans to issue recommendations next summer. It will focus mainly on the quality of current audits, the need for changing auditor skill sets, and the structure of audit firms. Mr. Levitt declined to comment on whether further changes to SarbOx would be recommended. One group likely to be listening to the conversation is the Business Roundtable, which says it supports SarbOx and recent SEC interpretive guidance on internal controls. The group last week released a survey of its members—chief executive officers at 160 large U.S. companies—that found 50% of them expect SarbOx costs to decrease moderately as a result of the guidance. Only 2% expect an increase in costs. The results are similar to a survey in spring 2006 that found 52% of members thought costs would decline and 6% expected increases. In previous years, however, members complained about high costs and burdensome requirements. More recently, the group has been a critic of proxy access and say-on-pay initiatives.
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