Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Accountants riding the Sarbanes-Oxley wave

Over the past two years, accountants and other employees at Iron Mountain Inc., the Boston-based records-management company, have put in over 40,000 extra hours of work, estimates Jean Bua, the company's corporate controller and chief accounting officer. Those hours were needed to make sure the company met the requirements of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed after accounting scandals at several companies, including Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco.

Sarbanes-Oxley is ''the single most wide-sweeping piece of legislation affecting the accounting profession in my 30 years in the business,'' said William Hayes, president of the New England district at Robert Half International, a financial staffing firm. ''It's affected all levels, depending on the size and internal structure of the company.''

For example, Hayes said, companies and external auditors need accountants with at least three to five years of experience to handle the relatively challenging work related to Sarbanes-Oxley. In many cases, however, these people have been promoted at their own companies or accounting firms, which has opened up new entry-level positions.

Accountants riding the Sarbanes-Oxley wave

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