Corporate & Securities Law

SEC?s Cox Tells House Small Bus Committee He Wants to Delay Sarbox External Audit Requirement for Small Co?s by Additional Year

According to written testimony prepared for a hearing of the House Small Business Committee taking place right now, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox will tell the committee: ?I intend to propose to the Commission that we authorize a further one-year delay in implementation for small businesses? in the requirement that small bus provide their first external auditor?s report on internal control, currently due effective year-end 2008, ?in order to base our decision on final implementation of section 404(b) on the best available cost data.?

Cox restricted his call for a further delay for small co?s only to Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley ? the section which requires an external auditor?s report on internal control.

His written testimony did not suggest any 11^th hour deferral of the effective date for Section 404(a) of Sarbanes-Oxley, which requires management to report on internal control. Under the current SEC rules, small co?s (specifically, ?non-accelerated filers,? generally, companies with less than $75 million market cap) must begin filing their first Section 404(a) management reports on internal control effective this year-end.

Large co?s (accelerated filers) have been providing both the management report and external auditor?s report under Sarbanes-Oxley for three years now.

SEC?s Cox Tells House Small Bus Committee He Wants to Delay Sarbox External Audit Requirement for Small Co?s by Additional Year

Full post as published by inside Sarbanes Oxley on December 12, 2007 (boomark / email).