Sox First

Chief executive officers are a glum lot. According to the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, most CEOs around the world are expecting a long and hard recovery. The survey found that only 15% of CEOs in North America and 15% in Western Europe were confident about their growth prospects for the next 12 months. Not much more in Central and Eastern Europe (21%) Asia Pacific (31%) and Latin America (21%).

Clearly, all signs suggest we could be in for a long hard haul. Still, economic history tells us that market come a lot faster than anyone expects.

• Fraud on the rise
• Iceland bank sues PricewaterhouseCoopers for $2 billion
• Triumph of the beancounters
• Low global grade for US tax system
• Bosses baffled by accounting standards
• Europe gains as SOX bites
• PwC and IBM settle kickback allegations
• IT clueless boards.
• CFO pessimism grows