January 26, 2007
GT Wins COSO bid to help Small Business with 404
Congratulations to Grant Thornton for winning the bid that COSO put forth to help small businesses make sense of the COSO model and improve their Section 404 projects.
This makes sense to have a firm who is not the Big Four undertake this project. The Big Four was heavily involved in the two COSO frameworks now in use "Internal Control — Integrated Framework" and "Enterprise Risk Management". But these were difficult for smaller companies to right size to their requirements.
So the SEC has come out with additional guidance for management which is out for comment and will be final February 27, 2007. And this help for smaller companies in the monitoring areas will be additional support for their Section 404 projects.
If your company needs assistance in the effective and sustainable compliance in SOX 404 or MI 52-109, contact http://www.issuescentral.com/ for more information on Compliance Playbook® for companies based outside of Canada. For Canadian based companies, see http://www.compliancepartner.ca/ for more information on Compliance Partner™ from Thomson Carswell.
This makes sense to have a firm who is not the Big Four undertake this project. The Big Four was heavily involved in the two COSO frameworks now in use "Internal Control — Integrated Framework" and "Enterprise Risk Management". But these were difficult for smaller companies to right size to their requirements.
So the SEC has come out with additional guidance for management which is out for comment and will be final February 27, 2007. And this help for smaller companies in the monitoring areas will be additional support for their Section 404 projects.
If your company needs assistance in the effective and sustainable compliance in SOX 404 or MI 52-109, contact http://www.issuescentral.com/ for more information on Compliance Playbook® for companies based outside of Canada. For Canadian based companies, see http://www.compliancepartner.ca/ for more information on Compliance Partner™ from Thomson Carswell.
January 24, 2007
Let's be Honest about New York's Financial Markets
The "shocking" revelation that other countries could take away New York City's dominance in world financial markets within 10 years was revealed in the much awaited McKinsey Report discussed in a news conference yesterday with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Senator Chuck Schumer.
The New York Post says this:
" That was the startling warning Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer issued yesterday in a press conference announcing the results of a McKinsey & Co. study on how the city can, in Bloomberg's words, ensure its "long-term economic health and stability." ...To keep these gears of capital formation humming, Bloomberg and Schumer have a number of ideas.
For companies struggling to keep their operations staffed with world-class talent, it's recommended the Department of Homeland Security raise its cap on skilled immigrants. That's a solid step forward; any cap on the influx of skilled minds serves as a barrier to growth.
For banking and accounting, Bloomberg and Schumer recommend more closely aligning U.S. regulation standards with international norms, thus encouraging more foreign investment in America.
And the report calls for caps on damages in securities cases (something America's trial bar won't easily stomach).
Perhaps most interestingly, the report seeks the formation of a quasi-autonomous "special international financial-services zone," where taxes and regulations would be tailored to global norms...
Yet on the most pressing issue - Sarbanes-Oxley - Bloomberg and Schumer flinched. Instead of fundamentally revamping SOx's corrosively onerous over-regulation, the report seeks new SEC initiatives.
Sure, Bloomberg and Schumer suggest letting small companies opt out of SOx's onerous provisions, so long as shareholders are conspicuously informed. But why not grant all firms the option?
That way, SOx compliance could be to prudent investors what a United Limited seal is to electronics, or an American Dental Association stamp to dental products and equipment.
All in all, Bloomberg and Schumer have assembled a smart collection of ideas to redesign 20th-century regulatory policy to operate in a 21st-century global marketplace. "
The ideas cited in the report around immigration are bang on! This is what made this country great - brainy and hardworking people from other places who want to live their version of the American dream. Bring it on!
The report is fair and balanced. What people realize is that SOX has worked. If you read the legislation and the former audit standard AS#2, they would have worked if the Big Four Audit firms had not gotten greedy and caused a redrafting of guidance and standards.
We need transparency in American markets. We need to think more internationally! Absolutely.
But do not forego high standards to become more internationally aware. Just keep the trial lawyers and overly aggressive auditors out of the way and SOX is a good piece of legislation. At the end of the day, good internal controls are good business. Too many other agendas have allowed this to be overshadowed and hijacked.
Another thing you heard in this report is this: The Dems have a majority in both houses. This is a mixed blessing as we know. If they seem to show too much mercy to all those overpaid CEO's then they could lose the next elections. They have to spend their time on issues that matter to the common American. The common American does not believe that business in the US is highly disadvantaged - especially public companies with all the news of excessive compensation.
Also, the Dems have to do their Bush Witchhunt on Iraq. That is what got them elected and what will possibly get them re-elected. So they have to keep their political powder dry. They will not get too many points for fixing SOX.
It is refreshing for a report to address what I think is the 800 pound gorilla in this discussion, not SOX but tort reform. Litigiousness is destroying American business and the atttractiveness of American markets to foreigners.
But before you cry for Wall Street, check out the fact that they are now a major player in Canada on financing/M&A etc. So they are not sitting back and just waiting around and dying on the vine with all this legislation and an unfavorable business climate in the US. They are getting on planes and flying to other markets where there are low hanging fees.
The New York Post says this:
" That was the startling warning Mayor Bloomberg and Sen. Charles Schumer issued yesterday in a press conference announcing the results of a McKinsey & Co. study on how the city can, in Bloomberg's words, ensure its "long-term economic health and stability." ...To keep these gears of capital formation humming, Bloomberg and Schumer have a number of ideas.
For companies struggling to keep their operations staffed with world-class talent, it's recommended the Department of Homeland Security raise its cap on skilled immigrants. That's a solid step forward; any cap on the influx of skilled minds serves as a barrier to growth.
For banking and accounting, Bloomberg and Schumer recommend more closely aligning U.S. regulation standards with international norms, thus encouraging more foreign investment in America.
And the report calls for caps on damages in securities cases (something America's trial bar won't easily stomach).
Perhaps most interestingly, the report seeks the formation of a quasi-autonomous "special international financial-services zone," where taxes and regulations would be tailored to global norms...
Yet on the most pressing issue - Sarbanes-Oxley - Bloomberg and Schumer flinched. Instead of fundamentally revamping SOx's corrosively onerous over-regulation, the report seeks new SEC initiatives.
Sure, Bloomberg and Schumer suggest letting small companies opt out of SOx's onerous provisions, so long as shareholders are conspicuously informed. But why not grant all firms the option?
That way, SOx compliance could be to prudent investors what a United Limited seal is to electronics, or an American Dental Association stamp to dental products and equipment.
All in all, Bloomberg and Schumer have assembled a smart collection of ideas to redesign 20th-century regulatory policy to operate in a 21st-century global marketplace. "
The ideas cited in the report around immigration are bang on! This is what made this country great - brainy and hardworking people from other places who want to live their version of the American dream. Bring it on!
The report is fair and balanced. What people realize is that SOX has worked. If you read the legislation and the former audit standard AS#2, they would have worked if the Big Four Audit firms had not gotten greedy and caused a redrafting of guidance and standards.
We need transparency in American markets. We need to think more internationally! Absolutely.
But do not forego high standards to become more internationally aware. Just keep the trial lawyers and overly aggressive auditors out of the way and SOX is a good piece of legislation. At the end of the day, good internal controls are good business. Too many other agendas have allowed this to be overshadowed and hijacked.
Another thing you heard in this report is this: The Dems have a majority in both houses. This is a mixed blessing as we know. If they seem to show too much mercy to all those overpaid CEO's then they could lose the next elections. They have to spend their time on issues that matter to the common American. The common American does not believe that business in the US is highly disadvantaged - especially public companies with all the news of excessive compensation.
Also, the Dems have to do their Bush Witchhunt on Iraq. That is what got them elected and what will possibly get them re-elected. So they have to keep their political powder dry. They will not get too many points for fixing SOX.
It is refreshing for a report to address what I think is the 800 pound gorilla in this discussion, not SOX but tort reform. Litigiousness is destroying American business and the atttractiveness of American markets to foreigners.
But before you cry for Wall Street, check out the fact that they are now a major player in Canada on financing/M&A etc. So they are not sitting back and just waiting around and dying on the vine with all this legislation and an unfavorable business climate in the US. They are getting on planes and flying to other markets where there are low hanging fees.
