Management Accountants Lay Into Sarbanes-Oxley
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Sarbanes-Oxley is hurting the global competiveness of the U.S. according to the Institute of Management Accountants. The IMA President and CEO Paul Sharman made the comments in a press briefing. The Sarbanes-Oxley legislation was intended to protect the interests of shareholders and it has merit, Sharman said, "but now, three years later, the overly burdensome and complex requirements are impeding business performance. Companies have been forced to spend money -- more than $32 billion of what would have been shareholder income -- on costly procedures to satisfy regulatory requirements." "U.S. businesses today need accountants who solve business problems not just report them," he said. He cited 5.4 million people working in accounting and finance in the U.S. Of these 85% work within organizations rather than public accounting firms. Management accountants he argued, add value to U.S. productivity rather than just simply reporting financial results. The IMA is the primary organization in the U.S. representing management accountants and finance professionals inside organizations, Sharman noted. "Companies hiring professional accountants appropriately trained to drive operations are seeking Certified Management Accountants (CMA). The CMA is quickly becoming the global standard of the accounting profession. CMAs are professionally trained in leadership, ethics, decision support, planning and control." Separately, Mr Sharman praised IMA's new partnership with Horvath & Partners, a leading international management consulting firm for performance management based in Germany. The move, he claims will enable some of Germany's sophisticated management accounting to the U.S.
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