Lay and Skilling of Enron fame have been found guilty. The drumbeat will grow louder- about this being exactly why we need Sarbanes Oxley. Slight problem - Sarbanes Oxley has already been in place for 4 years and has already cost corporate America hundreds of billions of dollars.
As I asked before - are we better off than we were 4 years ago?
Have our watchdogs – external auditors and the SEC – retooled themselves to better deal with Chewcos (one of the more complex Enron transactions)? If SOX had been in place 4 years ago would Enron management have not attempted such transactions? Are we as individual and institutional investors any savvier about Chewcos - or similar risks in our portfolios?
The answers are No, No and No. Instead of helping us find the Lays and the Skillings, our watchdogs want our Immelts and McNealys and other good corporate citizens to continue to bear the cross for a few bad apples.
