Sarbanes-Oxley Gives Rise to Consulting Jobs

After the catastrophes of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and the like, regulation has tightened. Most times we think more rules means more money and this case is no different. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed in 2002, has given rise to a great deal of consulting work due to the stringent requirements it places on companies in dealing with their financial statements. I won’t bore you with the specifics, but this extra money spent to implement the standards is going right into the hands of consulting companies.

Those of you interested in bridal consulting may not enjoy this type of work, but if you have an accounting background and are not interested in audit or tax, this could be a great fit. It is certainly something I considered during my job search. Why? Because this law is MANDATORY for public companies. Though a company could try to establish internal controls and meet all of the specifications using their own employees, it would likely be more expensive and they wouldn’t do as good of a job. And who wants to be the next Ken Lay? Not me.

So, they’re hiring outsiders, many of which work for consulting practices that have been spun off from large accounting practices or otherwise. This is because Sarbanes-Oxley also requires additional auditor independence. Auditors can no longer help the firm with its internal controls and then check those controls during the audit. The tasks must now be separate. This means more people are needed since the work has essentially doubled.

Bottom line #1, this is another opportunity for you to explore a different area of consulting. Bottom line #2, regulation is good…for consulting firms at least.