SOXing it to Corporate Costs?

Amy Borrus of Business Week writes an article about businesses who have found Sarbanes-Oxley to help with cost control. There is a bit of a "truth is stranger than fiction" or what Glenn Reynolds calls a "cats sleeping with dogs" feel about the story(94% of executives polled believed that Sarbanes-Oxley's costs exceed benefits); nevertheless, Gary Moran of Alvarez and Marsal Business Consulting has found companies, such as Cisco Systems and Genentech, to revise procedures and in the process, increase productivity. PCOAB head William Mc Donough also believes that corporate executives protest too much, stating that SOX often allows new initatives a fighting chance of being augmented. Specific examples of SOX creating improved business efficiency include Pitney-Bowes, where Accounts Receivable has been better coordinated; Genentech, where it helped implement an improved computer system; Cisco, where it streamlined the ordering process, making it easier for customers to place orders and Hub Group, a Illinois transportation business which uses Sarbanes-Oxley as a job training supplement.