Ron Paul Lends His Views on SOX 5 Years Later[Sarbanes-Oxley]

Audit Trail ^ | 18 July 2007 | Audit Trail

[BGHater]

Audit Trail recently sat down with 2008 Presidential Candidate Ron Paul, R-TX, to get his views on Sarbanes-Oxley 5 Years Later, as one of only three members of congress at the time to vote against the bill.

Audit Trail: It has been five years since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley. Has your initial position on the legislation changed, or do you still believe it was an overreaction to a real problem?

Ron Paul: The damage inflicted on American businesses and capitol markets by Sarbanes-Oxley has strengthened my conviction that this legislation should be repealed. In 2000, nine of every ten dollars raised by foreign companies were raised in the United States. In 2005, nine of the ten largest offerings were not registered in the United States, and, of the largest twenty-five global offerings, only one took place in the US. The number of public companies going private increased from 143 in 2001 to 245 in 2004. Sarbanes-Oxley is a, if not the, major reason companies are fleeing America’s capital markets. Furthermore, according to some estimates, Sarbanes-Oxley has cost the very investors the law claims to protect at least $1.4 trillion. How could anyone regret voting against such a harmful bill?

AT: What has been most surprising to you as you look at what has happened since Sarbanes-Oxley was enacted?

RP: The solid consensus that today exists among Representatives of both parties and the regulatory bodies charged with enforcing Sarbanes-Oxley is that this legislation, which Congress overwhelmingly passed and the administration heralded as a great achievement, was poorly drafted and that small businesses need relief from the unintended consequences of the law.

AT: Do you think the recent changes that the SEC and PCAOB have made with respect to SOX 404 will be successful in easing the burden of compliance? Do they go far enough?

RP: No, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new regulations implementing Section 404 do not go nearly far enough in lifting the unjustified burdens Sarbanes-Oxley imposed on America’s economy.

Sarbanes-Oxley expert John Berlau, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said of the new rule that “Simply proclaiming that audits should be ‘risk-based’ won’t make them so, as long as the other mandates of this auditing standard remain in place. Auditors and companies will still face potential liability for not looking at every last process that could be deemed an ‘internal control,’ even if it has little relevance for shareholders. And the big accounting firms will also still have the big incentive to find every last ‘internal control’ they can audit and bill for.”

Of course, the regulators can only go so far in relieving the burden of Sarbanes-Oxley; it is up to Congress to correct the mistake it made when it rushed this unconstitutional, anti-prosperity, and anti-liberty bill into law.

AT: Is Sarbanes-Oxley still top of mind for you? Do you follow developments closely?

RP: Reform, or even repeal, of Sarbanes-Oxley remains one of my top priorities. As a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, I intend to continue to be an active participant in the debate over Sarbanes-Oxley and similar legislation.

[lormand]

"I don’t give a rat’s ass about defending South Korea. Or Iraq for that matter. Let them all kill each other."

Dangerously myopic.

[Xenalyte]

Point of order: your post has just about nothing to do with the topic of the thread.

[lormand]

Are you one of the Ron Paul for Prez trolls who only recently joined Freerepublic to stain our forum with surrender-monkey spew?

AndreaThorn
Since Jun 25, 2007

[ejonesie22]

Sorry I want them over there. Bombs are hell on my wife’s garden....

[ejonesie22]

Sure it does, Muslims hate SOX compliance to...

Try complex password enforcement in Farsi...

[lormand]

"Point of order: your post has just about nothing to do with the topic of the thread."

Your point is "pointless".

Read the first line.

"Audit Trail recently sat down with 2008 Presidential Candidate Ron Paul, R-TX..."

Ouch, the "TX" part makes me uncomfortable. Good thing he only represents 1/52 of every Texan. I'm very proud of my Congresscritter, John Carter.

Please don't pretend that a "Ron Paul against SOX" post is an innocent thread only about SOX.

[Xenalyte]

Well, no, the thread is about Ron Paul’s view of SOX, which is certainly worth discussing as the legislation has affected probably 75% of Americans.

Your post is about Ron Paul and Alex Jones.

Alex Jones (not equal to)* SOX.

*(I don’t know how to make the equal-sign-with-a-slash on a keyboard.)

[lormand]

"*(I don’t know how to make the equal-sign-with-a-slash on a keyboard.)"

In the software world, we use

!=

or 'not equal' in english

[Xenalyte]

!= it is, then! Thanks - I have now learned two things today. (Does that mean I can go home?)

[lormand]

"(Does that mean I can go home?)"

I was picturing you in pajamas, but I guess you are in your remote office like me.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

LOLOL. You Ron Paul bashers are like Pavlov’s dog. Post a Paul thread, commence to bashing him.

[Xenalyte]

Oh, I’m actually at a real office. With a parking garage and a coffee bar and a big printer that doesn’t ever work.

But not for long . . . we shut down in about five minutes. ;)

[padre35]

“Dangerously myopic”

I disagree, why are we paying to defend other countries? How much has the US taxpayer had to pay for this “priviledge”?

And Paul is the only candidate who had even bothered to talk about “Keep foreign companies from investing in the US..” err “Sarbannes Oxley”.

[lormand]

"You Ron Paul bashers are like Pavlov’s dog."

Everyday now, I search for threads about Ron Paul that I may have missed. I think I have all of them for the past 7 days now.

When the Ron Paul Surrender Monkey dog and pony show finally ends, I'll seize posting these.

Here is a picture from a surrender-monkey protest in my hometown of Lafayette Louisiana last night which as organized by Moveon.org. The woman has a "Ron Paul 2008" poster

I'm thinking that Ron Paul threads on Freerepublic are also being hijacked by moveon trolls, like the moveon troll woman above.

[ejonesie22]

Oh good grief...

Yeah we don’t want none of that damned funny money over here. Better get them Toyota, Nissan and BMWs plants shutdown quick. We’ll get them folks employed at Walmart soon enough...

And last time I checked, defending our interest is the same as defending our soil. We are a global superpower and market force...

Sorry that’s the reality.

[lormand]

"I disagree, why are we paying to defend other countries?"

I may agree with you on the need for US forces in many parts of the world.

However, there is no better place for our Military to be than in Iraq and Afghanistan now. We need a long term large presence there.

[Martins kid]

Hey Dude - re-read your headline - First two words are RON PAUL. You are talking about Ron Paul. I am saying that I believe he has no credibility.

[padre35]

Defending our interests is the same as...

Who is “our” and why are “we” paying to defend “our” intersts?

Is paying soo much for that defense just one more example of Corporate Welfare?

[Martins kid]

Read the headline...Then read it again. “Ron Paul...”
A comment on the credibility of Ron Paul is appropriate.

[padre35]

Oh i agree with being in Iraq and Afghanistan, no doubt about that, I do question some of the War in Iraq strategy up until now, Ron Paul is off base on that IMO.

I do like the fact that Paul does “get” the need to make business easy to get done in the US, especially when a foreign company wishes to invest, and when a US business is being drowned in paperwork trying to comply with “yet another” regulation, they cost money and time and hinder businesses ability to compete in the market.

now which other candidate is going to talk about SOBOX?