Chief executive officers of more than 200 New York Stock Exchange-listed companies say Sarbanes-Oxley has created problems and opportunities. While smaller companies say Sarbanes-Oxley is killing them, big business has a different perspective.

And that highlights the big problem with the law.

To put it bluntly, SOX is costing the big end of town time and money but there are some benefits, according to the NYSE CEO Report 2007.

Nearly all the CEOs (97 per cent) are moaning about increased costs of compliance, four in 10 (39 per cent) say its holding up efforts to build their business and two out of three (64 per cent) says it's hurt strategic planning.

On the plus side, the survey says SOX has created boards of directors who are more switched on and improved investor confidence. Indeed, most CEOs (56 per cent) say it's now easier to attract investors and four in 10 say it's easier to retain them.

The survey is a telling reminder of the key problem with Sarbanes-Oxley. The legislation was designed for big business.

Trouble is smaller companies are different and have different needs, something that is not recognised by a piece of one-size-fits-all legislation.

I have examined this issue in more detail with this entry. It also explains why a growing number of smaller companies are going dark. Record keeping and compliance are serious cost issues for smaller companies.

And until the regulators address that, the problem is not going to go away.