(FORTUNE Small Business) – A new book, Breaking the Code: How America's Corporate Scandals Can Pay Off for Your Business (Mel Byrd Ink, 2004), finds a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy topic. In 142 breezy pages, author Ross McManus examines how the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has, among other things, created opportunities for small and midsized firms. Section 404 of the corporate watchdog law requires large companies to formalize competitive processes for selecting vendors, giving small businesses access to the "good old boy" network of deals. One example: In 2003, 34% of the public firms that fired one of the Big Four accounting companies hired a smaller regional or local firm instead. --WALTER DAWKINS