Is this really how Sarbanes-Oxley should work?

The AP notes that the American International Group basically was forced by its auditors--PriceWaterhouseCoopers--in the name of Sarbanes-Oxley to disclose a flaw in the way it valued its credit portfolio, resulting in a nearly $5 billion writedown. This, after the company had been telling the public that no writedowns were coming. Some are hailing this as a Sarbanes-Oxley success story, and I think there is merit to such a view. However, in light of the massive writedowns and mortgage misdoings in the financial industry, you have to keep things in perspective. There were some very iffy practices at many big firms that offered certain types of mortgages. Should they have been flagged? Should board members have been less surprised by credit valuation issues? You can bet the board will toughen up on these issues.  

For more on AIG:
- here's the AP article