President George W. Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-204) on Tuesday, July 30, 2002. Congress presented the act to the president on July 26, 2002, after passage in the Senate by a 99-0 vote and in the House by a 423-3 margin.

Over the past six years, it has been difficult and at times frustrating for directors to digest the audit bill after paying for the privilege of working through the rigid application of our accounting rules. Directors serve shareholders best in the key areas of strategic planning and oversight of the company’s executive management team. Yet a director’s value to the company is diminished when too much of a director’s time is spent on compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) and the resulting arcane accounting rules.