SOX and UK 1394



  • Would SOX be workable in the UK instead of the current Combined Code regulations that are not legally enforceable like SOX?



  • I dunno if SOX is workable in the US, but you might note that SOX received and continues to receive significant resistence from US companies.
    As for the legality of SOX in the UK, a recent posting noted that Kenneth Starr is taking on the legality of SOX in the US. The posting may be found at:
    http://www.sarbanes-oxley-forum.com/modules.php?name=Forums-and-file=viewtopic-and-t=1391
    Considering this and other differences politically, socially, economically, and culturally, I would think that imposing a US compliance requirement in the UK would receive strong opposition.
    It might be easier to reunite Paul and Ringo for a reunion tour.
    Cheers,
    Milan



  • Hi Terence
    Your view of the Combined Code is certainly a jaded one and doesn’t seem to be grounded in the reality of UK corporate governance.
    I would argue that the retribution that the market can mete out if it doesn’t like what a company is doing to be a far more terrible and immediate punishment than anything a regulator such as the SEC can levy. Yes, companies can choose to ‘explain’ instead of ‘comply’ but their share price will take a pounding if they fail to explain adequately what they are doing.
    As for whether we’ll get SOX in the UK… there’s absolutely no possibility of the UK Government introducing it unilaterally. I suppose there’s still a faint chance that the European Union could do something through one of the Company Law Directives but that battle seems to have been won for the time being.



  • I don’t think SOx is any more or less workable than the UK combined code - ultimately they are very similar in intent albeit SOX is far more enforceable.
    However, it is hard to compare because Corporate Governance generally was (and still is) in a far different state in the US compared with the UK.


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