Don pointed to a good article about Sarbanes-Oxley.
Like the Securities Act of 1933, I call Sarbox the “Accountants full employment act.”
Being intimately familiar with the Big 4 (or Final 4 as I like to call it) since I work for one, I can shed some light on the smoke and mirrors. Audit is extremely short handed right now, meaning it’s a boon for anyone looking for a job in accounting. During the boom, the hot professiobal sectors out of college were consulting and i-banking. The result is a lack of students wanting to study accounting. With the new CPA guidelines upping the education requirements, it’s also harder to qualify to be an accountant. So the pipeline for the meat grinder is getting pretty lean. It should change due to supply and demand (money), but on the immediate horizon, implementation of Sarbox is akin to the Final 4 hitting the lottery. Revenge of the nerds if you will…
If you have 24 accounting class units, need a job, and are not a complete tool, you should call your local Final 4 recruiter… Well, even if you are a complete tool, they’ll probably still take you…