Sarbox leading to shorter investment time frames?

It's been pretty well-documented that Sarbanes-Oxley has led to more job turnover among CFOs. But a new survey, by CFO magazine and a Duke professor, has found that it is a big factor in the rise of even shorter time horizons for corporate investments. More than 87 percent of finance chiefs say that shortened payoff horizons coincide with the shorter tenure of executives. This could be seen as another of those unintended consequences of Sarbanes-Oxley. But there are other issues at play. The need to satisfy shareholders is a much bigger reason, I would think. Basically, the C-suite is a hostage to the stock price. Many would say that boosting the price is a moral imperative. This predates Sarbox and it exists still. So while Sarbox has made life miserable for more CFOs, I'm not sure you can pin shorter time horizons on the law.

For more on the survey:
- here's an article from CFO.com