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In ‘06, public companies benefited from earlier efforts to comply with the governance measure.

Public companies spent 23 percent less adhering to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s accounting rules in 2006, as they benefited from work done in earlier years to comply with the landmark federal corporate-governance law, a new survey found.

Complying with the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act cost companies $2.92 million on average last year, compared with $3.8 million in 2005, Financial Executives International said in a statement yesterday. Costs have fallen 35 percent from 2004, the first year companies were required to adhere to the law’s accounting requirements.

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Sarbanes-Oxley costs 23% lower