The results from the 404 Institute's Fifth Annual Benchmark Study, Maintaining Your Control Environment in Turbulent Times, brought responses from more than 1,000 representatives of companies that varied in size and industry. The results note a significant shift in Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 compliance, as companies achieve lower deficiency rates and increase their efforts toward process efficiency and integration.

The survey's results also shed light on the practices of leading companies that are benefiting from their technology investments and strong Information Technology (IT) governance structures, as well as their implementations of enterprise risk management programs. Leading companies continue to achieve better coverage with fewer resources while experiencing fewer deficiencies than their industry peers.

Other survey results indicate that, while leading companies had approximately the same number of business locations as other comparably sized companies, they were able to cover more locations in their compliance testing. Leading companies also expect less of an impact to their control environment than do their industry peers as a result of challenges brought on by the economic downturn.