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

Among the provisions that investors seem to find effective are:

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

The telephone survey was conducted between July 17 and 23.