Commissioner Paul Atkins delivered a speech at the Corporate Directors Forum and as usual, unleashed himself on one of his favorite topics: Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Atkins, like the Paulson Committee and Bloomberg/Schumer, worried about the U.S. markets’ place in the world rather than investor information - as if the two were mutually exclusive.

His speech contained the usual complaints about the “costs” of 404. (As if there are no costs to investors or the economy as a whole for audit failures.) He cited in particular the costs incurred for compliance procedures performed by firms that were subsequently ignored by auditors. Seems like the answer is to make the auditors snap to attention, not gut the rules.While the PCAOB and the SEC continue to revise Auditing Standard No. 2, it’s good to note that their efforts aren’t wasted on Commission Atkins:

“I think almost all players in this debate have recognized the flawed approach that was initially rolled out. Last month, the SEC proposed additional guidance for management’s assessment of internal control. Around the same time, the PCAOB proposed replacing AS 2 with a new audit standard, AS 5, for an outside auditor’s attestation of internal controls. Far from being a rollback or lessening of standards, I think the new proposals go a long way toward implementing the original vision of Sarbanes-Oxley. I look forward to seeing the comments on these proposals.”

[1] yahoo!finance: Atkins: Still Wailing On Sarbanes-Oxley’s 404