Make Sarbanes-Oxley Optional

According to the WSJ, "Business has won the battle to ease one of the most controversial requirements mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate-reform law: that companies first review their own systems for ensuring accurate financial reports and then have them tested by outside auditors.

Sarbanes-Oxley curtails innovation by making the path to liquidity much more difficult. According to Larry Chiang, founder of aa4a.org, "Companies should be given the option of being Sarbanes Oxley compliant with the top safe investments receiving SoX approval." Chiang also heads up Duck9.com, a company that does peer to peer lending.

In its current format, it's brutally burdensome, with CEOs of companies chocked off in terms of getting needed investment capital into their growing businesses. "When growing companies can't raise money to hire needed workers, everyone suffers," Chiang added.

Contact Kara Scannell at kara.scannell@wsj.com , Deborah Solomon at deborah.solomon@wsj.com and Larry Chiang at larrychiang@aa4a.org