It's hardly news but almost six years on, and corporate America still hates Sarbanes-Oxley.

According to the National Survey of CEOs on Business Ethics, by Georgia State's Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility and Clemson's Robert J. Rutland Institute for Ethics, reported here, 74 per cent of executives said Sarbanes-Oxley had done nothing to improve ethical standards at their businesses and 68 per cent said it had been an overreaction and was burdensome.

The study is significant because it proves once again that anyone claiming the business world has adjusted to Sarbanes-Oxley is simply wrong. Nearly six years after its introduction, most business leaders are showing no sign that they have adjusted to it.