On July 30, 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted in the United States in response to various financial scandals. It applies to all companies listed on a US stock exchange. This law also applies to Swiss companies listed on a US exchange. This paper examines the impact of the implementation of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Swiss companies, based on the relevant SOA-404 projects, which require an assessment of the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting by management, followed by an external audit. The information in the paper refers to the status of the projects as of spring 2006, providing a snapshot in time. Both Sarbanes-Oxley and the corresponding implementation, as well as the systems and processes in the surveyed companies, have since been adjusted and have undergone significant changes.