The NYT notes a significant move by the US Securities regulators, that will bring welcome relief, but it might be to late, considering the effort that has gone on.

Responding to criticism that regulators had overreacted to years of major corporate scandals, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday issued a flurry of deregulatory orders and proposals intended to lower costs to public companies. It said the moves would not reduce investor protection.

In a daylong proceeding, the commission proposed a loose interpretation for smaller companies of an auditing provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that has come under attack from many companies.

Source: S.E.C. Eases Regulations on Business – New York Times