The tin foil hats started heating up yesterday when the line-up for this year's 404rum showed that many of last year's panelists were returning for this year's, with the significant exception of former SEC chief accountant Lynn Turner. As some of you may recall, one small business representative recently singled out Lynn for special approbation, suggesting he was almost single-handedly undermining the noble objective of small-company rollback.
So in one of our increasingly frequent fits of paranoia, Tim and I started wondering if perhaps Turner was 'dis-invited' this year by the powers that be. Who knows, maybe the Glass Lewis gadfly had even been disappeared a la Lucca Brazzi and now slept with the fishes. So we sent Lynn an email asking him what was up.
Rest assured he replied within an hour or so, saying he was indeed invited but that he turned the SEC down because he's on vacation in the Bahamas after having done his gadfly bit in the Beltway only a week ago by testifying before Congress on Sarbox. And he added in only partly jocular fashion:
"At some point in time, one can only digest so much of a good thing. And this topic has taken way too much in time, energy, resources. People need to get over it and get on with implementing 404 in a rational, effective manner. I think a lot of companies and a lot of auditors have figured out how to do that and have moved on. Others, oh well."
Too much time, Lynn? Don't tell us you took off your snorkel to respond.
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