Sarbox costs continue to decline, audit fees remain high

In year three of actual compliance, many companies have moved along the learning curve enough that the inside costs of compliance are dropping even more. A survey of accelerated filers by Financial Executives International has found that the average cost last year was $2.9 million. That's a 23 percent decline from the previous year. The number of in-house hours required for compliance dipped 10 percent. External hours dropped 14 percent. The big wildcard remains auditor fees, which fell less than 1 percent. Going forward, there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding such fees. A lot is riding on the new AS5, which is still in the works. It will take a lot to really induce auditors not to take an overly conservative approach. It also must be said that the big audit firms have really benefited from Sarbanes-Oxley through increased revenue. We'll see how easily they change their tune.   

For more:
- here's an article from cfo.com