Professor William Black:

Two very different Bills became law as this single Act. Oxley, in our context, was a very conservative member of the Republican Party and he was not a very big believer in regulation. His Bill was weak. I do not mean that as a criticism but it did not have very much in it. Sarbanes, a member of the Democratic Party, was more in favour of regulation. The Sarbanes Bill was considered dead-on-arrival when it happened. Then the Enron scandal was followed by the WorldCom scandal so suddenly politically the Administration had to respond and the Sarbanes Bill was the only thing on the plate that was credible. Therefore, this dead-on-arrival Bill suddenly became law. As a result, it is not well thought out and logical but is a weird pastiche compromise. I am sure everyone here understands better than I how these things become law. The Act contains a useful provision and concept. The thing it does is say that the senior people must actually sign off on the financial statements. The concept is that internal controls have to be tested, not just fictionalised.