Do what they do in Big-4 accounting firms: since you cannot audit a company that you have a financial interest in, they have a database of holdings. It can work 3 ways: you can be notified when a conflict of interest exists, you can disqualify yourself from official business because you have financial interests, and you can remove your financial interests in order to avoid a conflict of interest.

Unfortunately, this carries yet another overhead burden for our beaurocrats. And then there’s the practicality of it: everybody has an interest, even when it’s an indirect interest (holdings of spouse or other family members).

Point is, there already are useable models out there in the accounting world that we can adopt.

Interesting to note that in rejecting to hear the Microsoft/Novell appeal, Justice Roberts abstained from the vote because he is a MS shareholder.