Polled during the bank's annual emerging growth conference in Boston, six of 10 top executives replied that the advantage of being public is at best a toss of a coin and at worst definitely not an advantage at all. Moreover, eight of 10 respondents said if their company were private right now, they would not take it public in the current environment of accounting scandals and subsequent regulatory backlash.

"While it is obvious that the capital markets are something of a dry riverbed at the moment, what struck us in the survey is the drain these companies feel from managing stakeholders at a time when their core business operations are so demanding," said Timothy McMahon, CEO of Adams, Harkness & Hill. "We think this accounts for the significant increase that we and other banks have seen in mergers and acquisitions, as well as other financing alternatives to public equity."

The survey also found that the respondents support CEO certification, which personally binds a CEO to the company's financial forecast, and proposals by the New York Stock Exchange to make corporate boards more accountable for company activities.

Outside auditors, according to about half of the respondents, are responsible for the financial statements made by public companies. Overall, however, those surveyed believe Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia are more than just "bad apples" -- about half said they believe that accounting misconduct in public companies is "more pervasive than you might think."

The 2002 Adams, Harkness & Hill Leadership Survey: Trends in Emerging Growth represents the opinions expressed by more than 50 company executives from emerging growth companies from across the U.S. attending the 2002 Adams, Harkness & Hill annual emerging growth conference.