Adecco, the world’s biggest temporary employment group, on Wednesday became the latest European company to seek a delisting from the New York Stock Exchange because of limited trading volumes and high costs.

However, the decision is particularly piquant for Adecco, which became the first big European group to fall foul of the intricacies of the US Sarbanes-Oxley legislation in 2004.

Adecco was forced to repeatedly postpone reporting its earnings after the discovery of irregularities in parts of its North American business.

The investigation resulted in the discovery of only minor procedural irregularities, but led to costs of almost €100m for legal, accounting and public relations services – and ultimately led to the departure of John Bowmer as chairman.

[1] msnbc: Adecco to seek NYSE delisting