The financial burden of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) compliance is slowly, but surely starting to ease.

The cost of compliance with Section 404 of the SOX declined by 23% in fiscal 2006, according to a survey by [1] Financial Executives International.

The Florham Park, New Jersey-based organization found the average company spent $2.9 million on SOX compliance in 2006, versus $3.8 million in 2005 and $4.5 million in 2004.

“Technology has a lot to do with the cost reduction,” said Sanjay Anand, chair of the Sarbanes-Oxley Institute. Public companies “are actually automating their controls. A good 20 to 30%, even as much 40%, of the cost reduction is actually coming from automated controls rather than manual controls.”

These cost reductions have come despite the fact that auditors’ fees have remained relatively steady, the research revealed. External auditor fees dropped by just 11% in 2006, from $1.35 million to $1.2 million.

[2] ComputerWeekly: Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs drop, better processes credited