Unintended consequences watch: Oil industry reserves

Here's another one of the unintended consequences of Sarbanes-Oxley: Arena Resources is among the many oil and gas companies that hires experts to estimate how much oil they have in reserves. But in the Sarbox era, those third-party experts are said to have become more conservative in their estimates. The result is lower estimates that can really jack up depreciation costs, which are based in part on the amount of undeveloped reserves. In the case of Arena Resources, the change led to earnings that were 11 cents a share below expectations, according to Investors' Business Daily. Few would have predicted that. I'm sure you have your own examples.  

For more:
- here's the article via CNNmoney.com

Related Articles:
The politics of Sarbanes-Oxley
Will bill change Sarbox audits?
Sarbox leading to shorter investment time frames?