Interesting piece worth looking at in Fortune this month on the limitations of Section 304 (forfeiture of certain bonuses and profits) of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Matthew Boyle's piece CEO pay: They didn't earn it - and should return it correctly points out how scandalous it is that that CEOs who made themselves rich from fraudulent financial deals aren't made to give the money back. Technically, they have to do it under Sarbanes-Oxley but the law is a toothless tiger.

Boyle blames it on Section 304 itself which says that clawbacks can occur in cases of "misconduct". Trouble is it fails to spell out exactly what constitutes misconduct. He quotes Joseph Grundfest, Stanford professor of law and business: "For a statute that contains a lot of inartfully drafted provisions, this is among the most inartful.''

The only way around this is for boards to establish clawback policies and provisions in contracts. Doing that would give Section 304 teeth. But come to think of it, boards would probably greet that with roars of silence