The Securities and Exchange Commission had projected that after the first year of implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, cost of compliance would drop. Just try telling that to the ones who pay the bills. In a New York Stock Exchange survey of CEOs, 97% said its costs more now than it did three years ago to meet regulatory requirements not only as they pertain to SOX but other governance rules. In addition, seven out of 10 say the expenses affect profitability and nearly 40% believe the rules have either caused delays or had a negative impact on growth. Almost half of respondents (48%) of CEOs in the U.S. and one-fourth of foreign CEOs say their compliance-related expenses have more than doubled. About 80% said they did see some benefits to tighter regulations, with one in three responding that board members are now more engaged and 27% seeing a boost in investor confidence.