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TOPIC: An annual study by Oversight Systems found approximately 75 percent of certified fraud examiners claimed institutional fraud is more common now than five years ago according to an article by Wall Street and Technology. Four out of five survey participants cited the pressure “to do whatever it takes to meet goals” as the most common reason for corporate fraud. July 2007 marks the fifth anniversary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed in 2002 in an effort to prevent and deter accounting scandals, such as those that occurred with Enron and WorldCom.

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Yahoo.com: Experts Available to Discuss Survey on Corporate Fraud, Sarbanes - Oxley’s Fifth Anniversary

Reeling from the Sarbanes-Oxley blues, backdating scandals, and intense pressure to perform, CFOs (and their bosses) are vacating their offices at an alarming clip.

For years, companies have complained about the short-term focus of Wall Street. Now Wall Street has good reason to complain right back about them. Reeling from the Sarbanes-Oxley blues, backdating scandals, and intense pressure to perform, CFOs (and their bosses) are vacating their offices at an alarming clip. Various surveys estimate the average tenure of a CFO at anywhere from four and a half years to a mere 17 months.

This can’t be good. As Bob Brust, former CFO of Eastman Kodak, comments (see “The Tenure Track”), “If you stay with a company for only three years, you never get to see whether the decisions you made were good or bad; it usually takes five to seven years to really see the results.”

CFO.com: The Three-year Itch?