What Price SOX?

Finally, some numbers have been collected to show the costs associated with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance projects. But in the final analysis, the whole thing remains one big crapshoot.

Readers and other IT professionals have been telling us for months about the time and headaches they have incurred in trying to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley. The trick is that none of them seem to have a handle on exactly what they need to do, or how much it is going to cost them.

One smart researcher, A.R.C. Morgan, decided to comb public SEC filings to see if any company has filed data that would give us a clue as to the cost of the SoX compliance effort. What they found was all over the map -- everything from detailed numbers on partially-completed projects to statements of bewilderment as to the potential project costs. The good news: most other companies are just as clueless about SoX compliance requirements and costs as you are. The bad news: nobody really knows how much it's going to cost, or how long it's going to take.