"Some expected miracles." I'm afraid my response wasn't upbeat when reporters called for a reaction to how I foresaw Sarbanes-Oxley (SOx) impacting the 2002 crop of annual reports. "I'll believe it when I see it," I opined. Believing, as I do, that (1) miracles seldom happen and, moreover, (2) corporations move glacially slow. Change, in other words, comes slowly, if at all—positive change even slower. Sadly, I was right. Sadly, for those who envisioned a new openness among corporations throughout this country, with resultant rub-off on companies worldwide—certainly our neighbors in Mexico and Canada. Instead of disclosure becoming fuller, the contrary has taken place: More companies are featuring the legalistic Form 10-K as major portion of their annual report—nearly one in five (19.4%) vs. 12.4% among 2000 annuals, a 50% increase in just two years. And, I insist, the Securities and Exchange Commission never envisioned the one-color 10-K on flimsy paper stock, sans graphic design, as becoming major portion of the annual report to shareholders. The 11-year financial data I advocate is appearing in a smaller percentage of reports (stockholders are lucky if they get six-year data, let alone data for a longer period). The figures: 17.3% include 11-year data, as advocated; 4.3% data for 10 years; 7.9% data for six. A year earlier, the numbers, respectively, read 21%, 7.3% and 8.6%. That figures out to a 20% decline; one in five is reducing the amount of financial disclosure, thanks to SOx. Honesty, while somewhat improved year to year, has returned to 2000 report levels. Both this year and two years earlier, 86% of CEOs talked turkey; that is, told the truth, the whole truth "so help me God." (Meaning: 14%, or one in seven, obfuscates, is slippery.) SOx has been accompanied by decline in the number of pages—to just under 47 pages, reversing a two-year increase…'way back to 1995 lengths. Fewer pages equals less disclosure, of course. Less disclosure means a less-well-informed electorate, to borrow a phrase from voting advocates. Proving—to one observer, at least—that corporations will do just about anything rather than communicate openly, and well, with individual stockholders. Wall Street analysts and the like—that's another matter. But folks like you and me—we're no longer of much (if any) import. Not where today's uncommunicative corporations are concerned.* * We obviously exclude those one in eight (13%) so far this year to achieve "world-class" status, scoring at least 100 of a potential 135 points. Fortunately, there's a nucleus of men and women who care, truly care, about communicating their message to you and me. God love them.

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