Company managers may still dislike the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance law but are “getting better at addressing its challenges”, according to a study published on Monday that will show a dramatic fall in reported “material weaknesses” in company accounts.

The findings, by Compliance Week, a corporate governance publication, are further evidence of how the largest listed companies in the US, including foreign companies with US listings, have dealt with the law, which imposed onerous corporate compliance requirements when passed in 2002.