It’s safe to say that most financial directors across the pond wouldn’t complain if someone offered them five minutes in a boxing ring with messers Sarbanes or Oxley.

Sarbox, which came into effect in July 2002, threw executives at some of the world’s top companies into a state of panic from which they are yet to recover but in the UK, and the rest of Europe, those companies who are neither quoted on the US stock market or are subsidiaries of US companies have previously viewed those effected with something approached mild amusement.

However, according to a new report by Henley Management College, the smiles could soon be wiped off their faces.

And as Andrew Sawers rightly points out in his recent blog on vnunet.com, companies that have previously operated “safe in the knowledge that they’ve probably been able to devote more time to actually growing their business than their Sarbox-compliant rivals”, may soon have to forsake a coffee break or two.

The report, sponsored by Microsoft suggests that a large number of UK companies (possibly as many as 9000) will soon have to comply with the act as Sarbox begins rearing its head through their supply chain.

At present 5000 British companies already comply, or will soon do so and although Henley describe the current legislation as “an economic constraint”, the report does point out that, hard to believe as it may seem, a competitive advantage can be gained through the voluntary adoption of the rules. This is particularly the case for any companies look to trade with the US.

Henley argue that the same goes for companies striving to attain supply management excellence: “the more outsourced and dispersed the supply chain, the more difficult it becomes to establish and audit process controls. Therefore, working with trading partners that share a similar commitment to security and financial integrity is imperative,” the report states.