Description:The purpose of this study is to help financial executives benchmark their annual audit fees as well as their costs of compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This study analyzes the results of a survey of FEI members. Here are some of the highlights: Total audits fees for U.S. accelerated filers averaged $3.6 million for fiscal year 2007. This was 1.8% greater than the prior year. Of this total, an average of $846,000, or 23.7%, represented the fees paid to the auditor for its Section 404 attestation. This amount was 5.4% less than the prior year. Total average year-four costs of compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for those accelerated filers responding to the survey were $1.7 million. On average, accelerated filer respondents with centralized operations incurred less total costs of compliance in 2007 than did those respondents with decentralized operations. A number of customized, industry-specific reports are available for $100 each