SEC Admits SOX May Be Too Costly

The SEC is slow, but there are signs of hope that they are realizing the probles with Sarbanes-Oxley. This from the Wall Street Journal:

U.S. regulators may need to revisit internal-controls requirements for public companies if compliance costs remain high, according to Securities and Exchange Commissioner Cynthia Glassman.

In a recent speech in Denmark, posted on the SEC's Web site Friday, Ms. Glassman said she is concerned about excessive compliance costs associated with the requirement and raised the possibility of revisiting the rules, which were written by the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. She also said she would be "receptive" to recommendations to modify the internal-controls requirements for smaller companies, both in and outside the U.S.

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The good thing about regulators is that they regulate. That's also the bad thing - their bias is to step in with new regulations (even when not needed), since it gives them a reason for being.