Today, Financial Executives International (FEI) announced the results of their sixth Sarbanes-Oxley compliance survey, which found that Section 404 compliance costs were down this year than in each of the first two years. Section 404 requires corporate annual reports to contain both a statement of management's responsibility for establishing and maintaining an adequate internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting and management's assessment, from the end of company's more recent fiscal year, of the effectiveness of the company's internal control structure and procedures for financial reporting. Section 404 also requires the company's auditor to attest to and report on management's assessment of the effectiveness of the company's internal controls and procedures for financial reporting.

They FEI surveyed 200 companies about their compliance experiences with Section 404 and based on the results, they concluded that the total average cost for Section 404 compliance was $2.9 million during fiscal year 2006, a 23 percent decrease from 2005 totals. The data also shows reductions in internal and external costs of compliance, with internal staff time decreasing by 10 percent. Additionally, total compliance costs have dropped about 35 percent since year one, attributed to companies' increased efficiencies in Section 404 compliance.

What is the root cause of this new found efficiency? FEI President and CEO Michael P. Cangemi attributes it, in part, to technological advancements in the field of compliance.

We've seen this trend of mature of approaches to SOX in spades. Log management solutions go well beyond SEM or SIM - they reach deep into supporting critical operational processes; automating and monitoring controls.

As compliance continues to be a priority in the boardroom, it will continue to drive software innovation through the coming years and software innovation will continue to make compliance efforts more efficient. And Log Mangagement is increasingly playing a key role in that transformation -- and costs savings in enterprises.

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