With the latest figures from AMR Research showing that firms this year will spend $6 billion complying with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, the question is whether the expensive laws and regulations introduced in the wake of Enron are providing value for money.

New studies show that investors punish firms when they disclose internal control weaknesses, probably because they factor in the costs of remediation and see these companies as riskier investments. The same research shows however that the hit on the share price is less severe if they have a Big Four auditor.

Which is cute given the role of the accounting firms in the scandals that led up to Sarbanes-Oxley in the first place.

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox says there have been benefits but even he concedes more should be done and there are questions "whether we are getting everything we are paying for".

Not that Cox and the other regulators want to wind it back. But with events like the Refco debacle and the fallout from its bankruptcy proceedings, combined with levels of executive pay soaring to 10 percent of profits, it's clear that more work needs to be done. Cox has indicated the commission will begin proceedings this year to make executive pay more transparent.

Still, the decline in securities class action suits - down 17 percent to 176 last year, the lowest total since 1997 - has been partly attributed to the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley, although it's been conceded that we have to wait another two years before we know whether or not it's a trend.

Call me cynical but you have to wonder whether the decline has more to do with warning signs in the marketplace where the Fed has been raising interest rates, which can be a harbinger of a bear market, and an inverting yield curve, which you often a recession. These are not great conditions for class actions. Or does it reflect companies having better market intelligence than they did a few years ago, which has resulted in reduced volatility in the market , and less chance of the companies themselves screwing up? Or maybe it has something to do with the payment allegations now confronting Milberg Weiss, the most prominent class-action law firm in the US?

Whichever way we look at it, we really need more time before we know whether Sarbanes-Oxley is providing value for money.