July 25, 2005
Cox Nomination Should be a Done Deal Soon
Hopefully Cox will continue the important work that Chairman Donaldson started with the SEC. With the number of material weaknesses increasing all the time in public companies, there is no need to think that the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation needs to be weakened.
May 16th guidance from the SEC and PCAOB gave registrants and CPA firms more information on how to better implement the legislation. The first such legislation was passed by Congress in 1977/1978 in the form of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. But later in the 1980's companies began to move away from reviewing internal controls in their audits. So accountability waned and corruption increased.
Sarbanes-Oxley is the right legislation. Investor confidence is priceless. Chairman Cox, do not roll back this legislation. It is too important.
Excerpt from Financial Times
"Bush acts to smooth way for Cox to chair SEC
By Andrew Parker in New York Jul 24 2005 22:55
Christopher Cox, the Republican congressman chosen by President George W. Bush to be next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, (pictured) could face a smooth confirmation of his appointment by the Senate this week, after the White House took steps to temper potential Democratic opposition.
On Friday Mr Bush sought to prevent Mr Cox's proposed appointment getting delayed, or even blocked, by nominating the Senate Democratic leadership's preferred candidates for the party's two seats on the chief US financial regulator.
The Senate banking committee will question Mr Cox and the two Democratic nominees tomorrow, and as long as there are no significant problems with their responses they could all be confirmed as SEC commissioners before the legislators break for the summer recess at the end of the week.
Richard Shelby, Republican chairman of the Senate banking committee, will “rigorously examine” the three nominees' qualifications, said his spokeswoman. “He hopes to move all three nominees expeditiously in order to have a full slate [of five commissioners] at the SEC,” she added.
The spokesman for Paul Sarbanes, the senior Democrat on the banking committee, welcomed the fact that the legislators would consider all three nominees.
“We look forward to hearing all the nominees' views on how to strengthen investor protections and improve the effectiveness of our securities markets,” he said.
The Senate Democratic leadership has pushed hard to ensure that Annette Nazareth and Roel Campos, the party's preferred candidates for its two SEC seats, are installed with Mr Cox.
Some Democrats fear the SEC could lose sight of its investor protection mission under Mr Cox, given his business-friendly record in Congress and the laissez-faire views of Paul Atkins and Cynthia Glassman, the two existing Republican commissioners. The Democrats attach great importance to having two commissioners to counter-balance the Republicans' views." For the complete article, click here.
To learn more about how to lower cost and rapidly comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, see www.issuescentral.com and do a walk through of the Compliance Playbook(tm)
May 16th guidance from the SEC and PCAOB gave registrants and CPA firms more information on how to better implement the legislation. The first such legislation was passed by Congress in 1977/1978 in the form of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. But later in the 1980's companies began to move away from reviewing internal controls in their audits. So accountability waned and corruption increased.
Sarbanes-Oxley is the right legislation. Investor confidence is priceless. Chairman Cox, do not roll back this legislation. It is too important.
Excerpt from Financial Times
"Bush acts to smooth way for Cox to chair SEC
By Andrew Parker in New York Jul 24 2005 22:55
Christopher Cox, the Republican congressman chosen by President George W. Bush to be next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, (pictured) could face a smooth confirmation of his appointment by the Senate this week, after the White House took steps to temper potential Democratic opposition.
On Friday Mr Bush sought to prevent Mr Cox's proposed appointment getting delayed, or even blocked, by nominating the Senate Democratic leadership's preferred candidates for the party's two seats on the chief US financial regulator.
The Senate banking committee will question Mr Cox and the two Democratic nominees tomorrow, and as long as there are no significant problems with their responses they could all be confirmed as SEC commissioners before the legislators break for the summer recess at the end of the week.
Richard Shelby, Republican chairman of the Senate banking committee, will “rigorously examine” the three nominees' qualifications, said his spokeswoman. “He hopes to move all three nominees expeditiously in order to have a full slate [of five commissioners] at the SEC,” she added.
The spokesman for Paul Sarbanes, the senior Democrat on the banking committee, welcomed the fact that the legislators would consider all three nominees.
“We look forward to hearing all the nominees' views on how to strengthen investor protections and improve the effectiveness of our securities markets,” he said.
The Senate Democratic leadership has pushed hard to ensure that Annette Nazareth and Roel Campos, the party's preferred candidates for its two SEC seats, are installed with Mr Cox.
Some Democrats fear the SEC could lose sight of its investor protection mission under Mr Cox, given his business-friendly record in Congress and the laissez-faire views of Paul Atkins and Cynthia Glassman, the two existing Republican commissioners. The Democrats attach great importance to having two commissioners to counter-balance the Republicans' views." For the complete article, click here.
To learn more about how to lower cost and rapidly comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, see www.issuescentral.com and do a walk through of the Compliance Playbook(tm)
