Hinchman reviews reporting issues.

Like it or not, Sarbanes-Oxley does seem to be working to a fair degree," Grace Hinchman, FEI Senior Vice President, Public Affairs and Technical Committees, told a New Jersey business group in October. She was among four invited speakers at "2006 Business Outlook," presented by accounting firm Rothstein Kass and NJBiz publications.

The future of financial reporting, Hinchman said, was being driven by four factors: several large projects the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is working on that promise significant reporting and accounting impacts; the increased complexity in the current reporting environment; the focus on and joint efforts towards convergence with international accounting standards and work with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB); and the heightened awareness of private-company issues.

Private companies, while not mandated to follow Sarbanes-Oxley rules, are "voluntarily making improvements" as a means of heading off future or potential problems--not as a method to solve current problems, Hinchman noted. In a sense, she implied that Sarbanes-Oxley is coloring all areas of corporate reporting, and that companies are looking to improve compliance efficiencies, given the reported high year-one costs (particularly complying with Section 404).

FEI and Hinchman personally made significant contributions in the drafting and passage of the act in 2002, and particularly by gaining passage of Sections 406 and 407, which relate to ethical codes of conduct for corporate CFOs and audit-committee financial experts.

"Sarbanes-Oxley has instilled a discipline; senior management can't fake it anymore, and will be held accountable," said Hinchman. Also, audit committees will be held accountable. That's a direct result of Section 404, she added.