March 17, 2006
The requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) are a significant burden for smaller public companies. In order to meet its complex and expensive provisions, smaller companies would have to spend an inordinate amount of capital, time and effort. As opposed to the original intent of helping shareholders this would ultimatley result in a large reduction of shareholder value.
Although the original intent of SOX can be understood, its application in a "one-size-fits-all" manner is not appropriate. Larger companies face a cost of implementation that would only be a small percentage of assets. On the contrary, smaller companies would have the same requirements but the relative cost would be a material percentage of assets.
It is therefore essential that there be a significant moderation or elimination of SOX requirements for smaller companies as recommended by the Committee. It is already apparent that millions of shareholders will lose billions of dollars in value if SOX is not eliminated or moderated for smaller companies. America was built on innovations and developments from small entrepreneurial companies. Some of our major "household name" companies started as small public companies. If small companies are faced with implementing SOX, the future will not be the same and we will all suffer from that loss.
I strongly urge that the recommendations of the Committee be implemented as soon as possible.