The success of Sarbanes-Oxley
On its 10-year anniversary, Jesse Eisinger pens a paean to the much-maligned Sarbanes-Oxley law:
Cast your mind back. The scandals erupted in some of the purportedly best, most recognizable companies in America. Enron and WorldCom were the two biggest names and the two biggest failures. Tyco and Adelphia were in the second tier. But there were appalling accounting disgraces at HealthSouth, Rite Aid and Sunbeam. Waste Management and Xerox barely survived theirs.
Today, there are certainly debates about stocks and their valuations — and some questionable accounting — but no company that finds itself under scrutiny now is anywhere near as large, respected or publicized as those were then.
This is not, however, a consensus view. Rick Santorum — who voted for Sarbanes-Oxley when he was in the Senate — and Newt Gingrich have both pledged to repeal the law. Mitt Romney has pledged to amend it. William Niskanen makes the case for repeal here.
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