Indian outsourcing companies say SOX accounting regulations are helping their businesses grow 50% per year, according to the WSJ ($). They offer software, database management and compliance related services at one third the cost of a U.S. accounting firm.
Public companies are expected to spend $5.8 billion on compliance in 2005. The law requires companies to manage huge databases to keep track of receipts, approvals, and other bits of paper that must be stored for years. An obvious measure to combat outsourcing is not trade protectionism, but repeal of the onerous Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
