| McCreevy's comments came the day after a keynote address by Congressman Michael Oxley, co-author of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In his speech to the conference, Oxley admitted there were difficulties legislating responsibly on Sarbanes-Oxley in the "hot-house atmosphere" after the WorldCom scandal.
Commenting on the statutory audit debate, Zag Asghar, CEO at Chase Cooper said, "The EU has been under considerable pressure to lighten the load of compliance and avoid unnecessary regulation. Michael Oxley's statement comes as no surprise and it is important that in seeking to strive for global standards of governance, the EU do not respond reactively and fall into the same trap. Where effective governance self-regulation is already in place, such as the UK's "comply or explain" code, it would seem sensible that the EU only legislate on compulsory audit committees where no national codes exist. Regulation on corporate governance is needed but it must provide an environment in which firms can prosper."
The full text of Commissioner McCreevy's speech is available on the ICGN website.
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