Comments on: Sarbanes-Oxley: Tech's big complaint of 2005

Tech CEOs can't imagine that Sarbanes-Oxley's backers ever thought compliance would cost so much, says CNET News.com's Charles Cooper.

SOX being applied to IT project methodology?

Has anyone else's company gone off the deep end on on QA documentation supposedly to be in compliance with SOX?

We're to the point that it takes about a day to produce the various change documentation for a one line code change. And the "QA" department says that we are being told by third party auditors that we have to be this inneficient in order to be in compliance with SOX.

And it's not like these rules are only being applied on systems that maintain the companies financial data, it's being applied accross the company. Why does SOX care if I widen the description field on the product table allowing them to have a 5 character longer style name for a pair of shoes?

[furl12]

QA doc instead of real change?

>Has anyone else's company gone off the deep end on on QA

Funny you should mention that. I?ve also noticed that QA personnel are one of the primary beneficiaries of SOX.

Most of the promotions into executive and managerial ranks recently has come from people with a QA background. That?s pretty unusual historically ? and it?s not good. These people tend to see detail *rather* than substance and they work with a very short horizon. But they do love documentation.

On the other hand, our CEO is still living his playboy lifestyle at employee and stockholder expense. So SOX hasn?t really changed anything, has it?

[TomMariner]

Big enough cost to be fatal.

Not only are we in the US abandoning tech in favor of "management" but we are scuttling any chance of catching up! Much of the rest of the world is socially emphasising technology and streamlining while we let our "lawmakers" make those who protect us from our own government the most important people in the company.

Talk about throwing out the baby with the bathwater. But it does get great headlines and get attorneys general elected to even more powerful posts. Bernie Ebber's "fraud" also included putting together the majority of Internet pathways in the nation -- but the stock tanked and the dude's going to be rooming with Bubba! And Verizon is laughing all the way to the bank.

[JLBer]

New world != Deal with it

Just because this ridiculous law, which was enacted only to make lawmakers justify their position to their constituents, is the way things are does not mean that we should just bend over and grab our ankles. Either this law is too far-reaching or it's interpretation is too far-reaching. In either case, this law needs to be changed. All laws can be repealed or modified.

It's absolutely ridiculous that I need to wait two weeks for a change control to go through a commitee just to make a single change in /etc/system or /etc/services for no reason other than that system contains financial data. Commenting out TELNET or adding POP or increasing shared memory space has zero to do with any financial shenanigans of the higher-ups.

Once again, another feel good, "hey, let's look like we're doing something" law is making life hell for everyone -- except the lawmakers. It must be good to be the king, or kings in this case.

The CEO's should direct their anger at their peers

Maybe if they weren't so greedy they would not be in this position... I'm all for making momney, but there is a point where you just can't squueze out any more profit unless you reduce something, like accountability, services, or quality.

[Michael Grogan]

This law is the result of years of ...

...Corporate greed and dishonesty. Don't expect the rest of us to shed a bitter tear because the jerks refused to police themselves and adopt a few ethics. (Remember that word, used to mean something)

Also a boon to the industry

Just like HIPPA, SOX is helping to keep tech jobs here in the US. Watch the government legislation, and follow the money to see who benefits the most and you'll get a better sense of why these bills are coming along now. The new Supercomputing Bill is probably going to be another example of a government initiative designed to stabilize a segment of the economy.

1.6 Billion for Rambus? Oh Please

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"We spent $1.6 billion on Sarbanes-Oxley and got, maybe, $1.60 in value," recalled a frustrated Harold Hughes, the chief executive of Rambus.

I feel the guy's pain, but he got off easy. Another CEO at a much larger tech company told me his quarterly spending on SOX amounted to several times that amount.
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Yet you link to another cnet article about how total SOX spending was estimated to be 5.5 Billion in 2004. Those CEO's are plainly lying to you Charles.

[charlie cooper]

CORRECTION: Million, not billion

you're right -- not that they lied but that the number's off. huge typo. should be "million. making the correction now. Thanx for the catch

[jv]

Execs nead to get there IT house in order

Emotional reaction to regulation causes executives to blow the budget. Story at 11.

The term SNAFU comes to mind. I have seen this repeatedly in corporate IT. Executives look at each requirement as a "new" system instead of looking at how they can bring the existing system into compliance.

Most moern companies had little trouble with SOA. Corporate lawyers and accountants set the rules and IT provided the adjustments to the accounting work stream and, as Emeril would say, "Bang! Another notch!"

[jv]

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[jimg45]

Re: Execs Need to get their house in order

Perhaps they should, perhaps they, in reference to those who would bring about a need for legal intervention, should get themselves in order before handing directives down to their subordinates. Personally, I view the initial implementation as a fiasco with little of the plain English the law its self demands regarding changes in financial structure. Perhaps, the punishment should go to the crminal instead of the masses.

Crying all the way to the bank

Crying all the way to the bank is better than crying all the way to jail.
This saves honest tax payers a lot of money.
Trails and fancy jails are payed for by honest tax payers.
Enron stock holders are crying for them also,may be thay can get some help from them to repeal SOX.

[rdean]

The winners = the auditing industry

Those corporations and government contractors (even if they're privately held) that are forced to comply with SOX get very little value out of the process of complying.

Look at it this way. If I know 1+1=2, what value is it for me to write Principia Mathematica to show to an auditor so that they know we know that 1+1=2?

[goldfrap]

sox and audit

The problem is when i know that 1+1 = 2, but shows that 1+1 = 3. And there are people who cant figure this out without the auditors help!

Probably for the better

If you've been employed in the corporate world anywhere you've run into this one. The middle manager whose biggest concern in the entire world is whether you have all the pencils on your desk pointed the same direction. Or one who fears that if your shirt isn't tucked in the way they want it done that the entire company will come crashing down.

These are the people who wind up in middle and thus upper management. These are the people who outsource jobs overseas to save bucks this quarter and lose customers by the millions.

No, not every manager is like this, but a significant percentage is, otherwise you wouldn't be thinking of that person or persons you've had to work under who fit my above description.

These are the people made miserable by SOX. They now have something to occupy their time and so pencils are laid on desks every which way and shirt tails are coming dangerously close to hanging out of waistbands. THE WORLD AS THEY KNOW IT IS UNDER THREAT! Of course they would be upset. They have something they are now responsible for getting done and handing in at a set time. Something they can't slough off on an already over-worked underling. THE HORROR!

Let's face it. Companies run better when managers have to stop nit-picking their underlings work habits and let them be productive, getting done the actual product and service of the company. Since the only people who seem to believe they are doing real work are the boys in the suits who don't contribute a damn thing to productive work time then who gives a rat's behind if they are inconvenienced?

[rdean]

Not so...

SOX only requires that there be a paper trail. It *should* force every level of management to know what's going on and being involved in the process, but those managers that want to avoid doing work are going to find ways around this one as well.

[open-mind]

SOX SUX

SOX processes burden the grunts most by creating mountains of
red tape and bureaucracy. Basically wastes tons of time and
effort without preventing Enron-style dishonesty. The only ones
that benefit from SOX are consulting/auditing firms like PWC.
Big money for them.

[landlines]

SOX should have been applied to government programs first!

Social Security, Medicare, and Unemployment Insurance administration are just a few of the programs we'd love to see SOX'd!!!