SOX Center

Debate about whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is harming U.S. investment banking business could be on the agenda when Wall Street firms hold annual meetings in 2007.

Conservative pundit Steven Milloy, who co-manages the Free Enterprise Action Fund, a Potomac, Md.-based mutual fund, is pressing U.S. investment banks to provide more disclosure on the effects of the 2002 law, aimed at cleaning up corporate accounting. He’s asked Wall Street firms to offer a resolution requiring them to report to shareholders by next fall on what it costs them to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX, its benefits, and its impact on their investment banking business.

“Shareholders have a right to know how SOX impacts the Company so they can take appropriate action if warranted,” according to the petition for a “Sarbanes-Oxley Right-to-Know Report.” Milloy’s firm made the same request to Bear Stearns Cos. (BSC), Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH), Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) and Morgan Stanley (MS).

Market Watch: Wall Street firms asked to detail Sarbanes-Oxley’s impact