By the Numbers: SOX no bargain in '06

Article

By the Numbers: SOX no bargain in '06

Linda Tucci, Senior News Writer
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) might be getting older, but it's not getting cheaper. Compliance with SOX will continue to devour a large chunk of IT budgets in 2006 than it has in years past, according to Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc.

Preliminary results from Gartner's 2005 survey of CIOs, IT compliance managers, CFOs and other compliance professionals show that IT financial compliance management spending will account for a median 15% of IT budgets next year. The amount is more than four times the 3.3% of the IT budget professionals dedicated to compliance costs in 2004, the first year of SOX compliance, according to Gartner.

    Requires Free Membership to View

    Download CIODecisions Ezine FREE with your registration.

    Get essential editorial insights that senior IT executives need to run IT operations effectively and efficiently. Check out past issues then register to get the latest issue.

    Get Enterprise CIO Decisions Now!

    By submitting your registration information to SearchCIO.com you agree to receive email communications from TechTarget and TechTarget partners. We encourage you to read our Privacy Policy which contains important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States. Your use of SearchCIO.com is governed by our Terms of Use. You may contact us at webmaster@TechTarget.com.

For more information

By the numbers: The new SOX breakdown

By the numbers: Weighty workloads

Audit and finance professionals, who made up roughly one-third of the 326 survey participants, estimated the highest spending: 20%. IT compliance managers estimated 10%. IT professionals estimated 12% -- and CIOs estimated 12.5%. (That means some CIOs might be surprised when their CFO submits a bill.)

Here are two bits of good news: The survey found that most organizations (62%) are funding regulatory compliance as an ongoing program, rather than treating SOX as a project or phase. And about 80% of CIOs said they are members of their organization's compliance or governance council -- as analysts suggest they should be.