Sarbanes-Oxley Spending In 2004 More Than Expected

By Steven Marlin Courtesy of InformationWeek

The first year of complying with section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has come at a steep cost for many businesses, with greater-than-anticipated personnel, consulting, auditing, and software expenses, according to a survey by Financial Executives International, a professional association of CFOs, treasurers, and financial controllers.
The good news is that the cost of compliance efforts is expected to decrease this year as IT projects undertaken to meeting the financial-reporting requirements of section 404 progress.

The survey, conducted in March among companies with average revenue of $5 billion, showed that spending for section 404 compliance averaged $4.4 million in 2004. That's higher than the average $3.1 million companies estimated that they would spend in 2004 in a similar survey conducted last July.

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