Are U.S. Corporations Being Overregulated?

Abstract

Throughout the last few centuries since the earliest days of corporate America, the presence of corporate governance structures and policies has always been a necessity. With continual changes inherent to the modern corporate landscape, several notable scandals and concerns have forced many U.S. corporations to develop more effective and efficient methods of corporate governance to better safeguard the interests of shareholders and the general public. This paper explores the issues surrounding the board of directors and executive remuneration, audit and control procedures and large shareholder monitoring, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The objective of this analysis is to determine whether U.S. corporations are being overregulated and examine the implications and perpetuation of such governance and regulatory policies in the future.