Democrats moved immediately today to capitalize on the scandal, pushing their version of accounting-reform legislation and accusing Republicans of favoring only weak remedies for corporate abuses.
But Mr. Oxley, who sponsored the House's version of accounting and corporate-governance legislation, warned that the Senate was turning into a "feeding frenzy".
Merrill Lynch already offers an early version of account aggregation, for a monthly fee, to its wealthiest customers, those with at least $5 million invested at the firm, through Greentrak, a small, private company in New Rochelle, N.Y.
And just earlier today, Viber announced Public Accounts, its own version of business accounts to use the platform for marketing, as well as customer service.
Only days before the bill passed, the UnitedHealth Group, the largest insurer, bought the Golden Rule Insurance Company, a pioneer in selling medical savings accounts, a less-favored version of the accounts, for $500 million.
At present Nestlé is still running three different versions of accounting, planning and inventory software for each of its main regions Zone Europe, Zone Americas, and Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa.
(The group also cheekily reminded some Democrats that they had supported an earlier version of the accounts in the 1990s, when some legislators hoped the accounts and their associated insurance plans might offer alternatives to health maintenance organizations).
After weeks of newspaper disclosures and political turmoil swirling around the expense accounts of legislators, the British authorities finally published their own version of the accounts on Thursday, but with crucial data blacked out.
In the Sunday Times, Peter Kemp called it "a rejigged version of gospel accounts of Jesus's childhood" with a portrait of a Spanish-speaking utopia defined by "tepid decency".
