Unfortunately, I don’t believe there’s
anything remotely amusing about Sarbanes-Oxley. There
is increasing evidence that SOX:
- has made small public companies an endangered
species; - is threatening
the vitality of our dynamic public
markets and driving the US more to the model of institutionally-driven
markets prevalent elsewhere around the globe; - is driving foreign companies with a choice of where
to list themselves to the London exchange instead
of the NYSE; and most importantly - decreases investor
returns on firms complying
with SOX compared to a "control group" of similar firms
exempt from SOX (because they’re foreign-listed).
Would that there were an institutional mechanism making
the incentives for Congress to repeal laws equal to
the incentives to enact them. And in the meantime,
I miss my (pre-SOX) practice of securities law; those
days may be gone for good.
