SOX Sucks!

I completely understand why Sarbanes-Oxley was enacted. The country got fed up with misguided executives having all sorts of fun with stockholder’s money. I was angered by the gross lack of ethics but I was also angered that hard working employees (fellow cube monkeys) lost their retirement or were laid off due to a bunch of guys who thought they were too powerful to be accountable. I enjoyed watching these men in their 3-piece Armani suits being escorted by the FBI in handcuffs. Oh yeah!

I’m glad the government stepped in to help fend off corporate wrong-doing but I’m a bit peeved at SOX’ implementation. I work in Information Technology and our corporate folks are always waiving the SOX flag. I am working on a small web-based application that does not and will never hit the financials of my company. However, the SOX and process police are constantly asking if my processes are documented and asking me to complete a SOX form that contains a ton of questions. When I take my good ole time in getting back to them they say, “Well, Sarbanes-Oxley says…”

I’m convinced that SOX is giving raw, unadulterated power to the process police. PMO groups tried to enforce policy but never could. They never had any bite. Thanks to SOX, PMOs can waive the SOX banner and all must comply with their demands of countless pages of documentation. A friend of mine told me that SOX compliance and documentation ate up 40% of his entire project budget. That’s ridiculous!

What’s funny is how once virtually powerless process people now have enormous egos. They walk around the office like gods who are to be feared because of Sarbanes-Oxley. If I could draw cartoons I’d draw the SOX police as men and women in police uniforms carrying cattle prods. If you do not have your documentation done on time and if it isn’t at least 200 pages in length, you’ll get zapped by the cattle prod. Cube Monkeys everywhere shall cower in fear of the SOX police.