The vote by the five SEC commissioners was unanimous to approve guidelines allowing management greater leeway in assessing the strength of a company's internal checks and balances to guard against fraud.

A crucial part of the Sarbanes-Oxley law, which arose from the 2002 corporate scandals, mandates such annual assessments of internal financial controls by company executives. Business interests, especially technology companies and smaller businesses, have lobbied vigorously in the ensuing years for a softening of the rules under Section 404 of the 2002 law, complaining that it is overly burdensome and costly.

The SEC's action at a public meeting Wednesday culminated a lengthy administrative process that took place against a backdrop of intense public debate. With the new guidelines in place, they will apply to audits of all 2007 financial statements.

The "interpretive guidance" for management is meant to eliminate waste and duplication for companies that must comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, particularly smaller companies that will be governed by the law later this year, according to the SEC.

The guidance "is intended to right-size the evaluation and assessment efforts of managements, and it's intended to do that for companies of all sizes," SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said at Wednesday's meeting. "Investors will benefit from reduced compliance costs."

In another action in the vein of easing regulations, the commissioners also voted to propose changes in rules for private securities offerings that would, for example, reduce restrictions on advertising the deals.

In recent months an array of business leaders and organizations have argued that the scandals of 2002 spawned overly burdensome and costly rules that have hurt U.S. competitiveness. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson convened an unusual conference of prominent executives and former government officials in March to dissect the issue.

Paulson, who has said a balance must be struck between ensuring the competitiveness of financial markets and protecting investors, plans for the Treasury Department and other federal agencies to work on proposals for regulatory actions.

A prime target of the business campaign has been the financial-controls provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley anti-fraud law, enacted amid scandals that engulfed Enron Corp., WorldCom Inc. and other big corporations. The business interests also have urged a clawing back of class-action lawsuits against companies and auditors as well as criminal prosecution of companies by the government.