LONDON -- The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which tightened corporate-governance rules for U.S.-listed companies, is proving a boon for some United Kingdom accounting firms.

The U.K. affiliates of both PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the largest of the Big Four accounting firms in the U.K., and Ernst & Young LLP have seen revenue increases thanks to new reporting requirements related to the reform legislation, which was enacted in the U.S. in the wake of scandals such as Enron Corp.

Although aimed at publicly traded companies in the U.S., the new requirements mandating beefed-up internal corporate controls also apply to foreign companies that have a U.S. stock-exchange listing.

This means Sarbanes-Oxley is having an outsized impact on the U.K. because so many big companies -- 40 of the U.K.'s top 100 -- also have listings in the U.S. On the New York Stock Exchange, for example, only Canada, with 78 listings, is ahead of the U.K. with 45, according to the NYSE.

PricewaterhouseCoopers's U.K. affiliate plans today to release results for the year ended June 30, 2004, that show an 8% increase in revenue from assurance services, which include audit and consulting work related to internal corporate controls and corporate governance. About half of that growth was due to the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley, as well as Europe's switch next year to new, international accounting standards, said Kieran Poynter, PricewaterhouseCoopers U.K. chairman.

In its most recent fiscal year, PricewaterhouseCoopers saw total revenue increase 4% to £1.56 billion (€2.24 billion or $2.87 billion), while profit before disbursements to partners rose 1.6% to £384 million.

Ernst & Young's U.K. affiliate reported last week that fee income related to business assurance services for the year ended June 30, 2004, was up about 16% on the previous year, thanks in large part to work related to Sarbanes-Oxley.

"It's a key driver of the increase," said Nick Pasricha, managing partner of Ernst & Young in the U.K.

Overall fee income at Ernst & Young in the U.K. rose 2% to £828 million in the year ended June 30, 2004, while profit before disbursements to partners rose 6% to £198 million.

Nick Land, chairman of Ernst & Young in the U.K., said that of the 40 top U.K. companies with U.S. listings, his firm has done Sarbanes-Oxley related work for 19.

While U.S. companies are this year putting in place procedures related to internal control requirements mandated by Sarbanes-Oxley, foreign companies have another year before they must comply in the same way. Mr. Land believes this will spread some of the Sarbanes-Oxley gains out over the coming year as well.