As members of Congress continue to hash out the details of legislation to overhaul U.S. financial regulation in response to the economic crisis, at least some U.S. businesses are taking steps to get ahead of the slew of regulatory activities and proposals coming out of Washington D.C., according to a new survey.

In a survey of more than 120 C-suite executives of large U.S.-based companies by Big 4 firm KPMG, nearly a third say their company is planning or acting to get ahead of regulatory reform, and 17 percent say they're budgeting more this year to cover regulatory compliance costs.

Of those who are acting to get ahead of reforms, the vast majority (71 percent) say they're making changes to risk-management policies. Meanwhile, 24 percent said they're making changes to their product approval process and the same percentage say they're changing their disclosure procedures. Ten percent are changing their compensation processes. Other actions cited include changing sales/marketing strategies, financial reporting and/or accounting standards changes, and redesigning unspecified programs and processes, according to the survey.

"We are counseling companies to identify and understand the risks that regulators are concerned about, and work to address these issues proactively in a thoughtful and comprehensive way," said Henry Keizer, vice chair of audit for KPMG. "The survey finding that so many executives say they are making changes to their risk management policies demonstrates they are hearing this message."

*The following chart from KPMG shows "Actions Executives Are Taking to Get Ahead of Regulatory Reform."

When asked to rank their top three concerns about the reform, executives cited compliance costs (68 percent), too much government intervention in business (52 percent), and difficulty of planning while awaiting passage of the reform legislation (42 percent). Other concerns high on executives' list of reform fears include the worries that it will slow growth and threaten the economy (39 percent) and make access to capital more difficult (24 percent).

Too much government intervention in business was most frequently identified as the number one concern when ranking their top three concerns, ranked first by 29 percent of those polled.

Among the other findings from the survey, 28 percent of executives said regulatory uncertainty is hampering their company's ability to plan its business, and 6 percent say it's making investors wary of their company.

Despite their worries, about roughly half the group (49 percent) agree that regulatory reform has the potential to be a "net positive" for their business, depending on the form it takes. When asked about the most important goals they think could come from regulatory reform, 88 percent of executives cited an activity that would "grow the economy" and 80 percent cited an activity that would "restore trust in the capital markets."

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