Faced with the costs to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, some public companies are looking at going private, even though the costs fell slightly in 2005. Fed up with the Sarbanes-Oxley burden, 21% of companies that responded to law firm Foley & Lardner’s latest study said they are considering going private. Other options respondents are considering include selling the company (10%) and merging with another company (8%). Meanwhile, costs associated with corporate governance reform dropped 16% for companies with less than $1 billion in annual revenue and 6% for companies with greater than $1 billion in annual revenue, reports Foley & Lardner in its fourth annual Sarbanes-Oxley study, released Thursday. The savings stem from decreased productivity losses, legal fees and initial setup costs. However, audit fees increased, as did the cost of board compensation and liability insurance for directors and officers.