A majority of U.S. investors support the Sarbanes-Oxley Act andbelieve that the tightened rules mandated by SOX shouldn't beeased, according to a nationwide survey of 1,001 investorsconducted for the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ). In sharp contrastto corporate complaints about the excessive burdens of having tocomply with SOX, more than 60% of those participating in theinvestor survey believe that the rules as they now stand shouldessentially be left unchanged. In fact, investors told the surveythey would be unhappy if the regulations are eased. An overwhelmingmajority of investors–84%–say they now have confidence in the U.S.capital markets and in the financial information provided bycompanies, with 79% of those surveyed attributing that confidenceto the changes brought about by SOX.

Among the provisions that investors seem to find effectiveare:

• The establishment of an independent audit committee and to haveexternal auditors report to it (79%);
• Establishment of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Boardto police the audit profession (76%);
• Section 404's requirement for companies to monitor internalcontrols (76%); and
• Section 302's requirement that CEOs and CFOs sign a writtencertification of financial reports (74%).

The telephone survey was conducted between July 17 and 23.