Bolstered by a series of delays granted by the SEC and highly publicized criticism of Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, many smaller companies are playing the waiting game with Section 404 compliance. With the deadline fast-approaching, smaller companies need to look beyond the hype and accept that SOX is not going away.

Rumors are circulating about the possibility of a last-minute pardon. In light of this, it makes sense to separate fact from fiction. This is especially important as the 2007 deadline for compliance draws near.

It is a fact that larger companies, so-called “large-accelerated” and “accelerated” filers, are experiencing dramatically high costs. One university study estimates that the worldwide, direct and indirect costs in the first year of enforcement cost over $1 trillion dollars. It is also fact that the SEC publicly acknowledged the extreme cost of compliance experienced by large companies and granted delays to smaller public companies (a.k.a. non-accelerated filers).

[1] PRWeb: Small Companies Play the Sarbanes-Oxley Waiting Game