SOX Center

The two top members of the House Small Business Committee asked regulators on Monday how much newly approved revisions to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act would save small companies, with the panel’s chairwoman saying a hearing about the law last week yielded only promises, not estimates.
In letters to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and Public […]

Almost three-quarters of the chief financial officers in the US believe that Sarbanes-Oxley should be “repealed or reformed” as the costs of the 2002 compliance law have outweighed the benefits, according to a survey.
The findings underscore the scale of frustration over the costs associated with implementing “Sarbox”, even as regulators said that costs were expected […]

John Kerry and Olympia Snowe want another delay for small companies.
Senators John Kerry and Olympia Snowe have sent another letter to Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox asking him to give small companies more time to prepare for complying with the internal-control provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
The small-business committees in both the House and […]

With the SEC holding to its Dec. 15 deadline for compliance, companies will be scrambling.
Time’s up!
That’s the message for small public companies from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which met recently to give final approval to new guidelines and amendments to the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reform law.
The five-member commission didn’t include a hoped-for extension of the […]

The Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board has ruled that a whistleblower’s accusations were not protected under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act whistleblower protection provision, CFO.com reports.
David Welch, former CFO of Virginia bank Cardinal Bancshares, in 2004 was the first person to win whistleblower protection under SOX. Welch said the bank fired him after he raised questions […]

Senators John Kerry (D- Mass.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) outlined specific steps the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should take to provide more time and assistance to small public companies to comply with Sarbanes Oxley internal control regulations. Kerry and Snowe, as Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, […]

Challenging optimism about the efficiency of new auditing standards, the House Small Business Committee’s chairwoman called on federal regulators to give thousands of small public companies even more time to comply with a controversial section of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-NY, said on Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public […]

Securities and Exchange Commission internal control reporting requirements because smaller banks are already required to report to their bank regulators.
Testifying before the House Small Business Committee, Diane Casey-Landry, ACB president and CEO, said: “Community banks are part of a highly regulated industry subject to alternative requirements, heightening the need for relief from the unnecessary and […]

Business advisors Grant Thornton LLP have applauded the SEC and the PCAOB for their efforts in addressing the legitimate concerns of the capital markets while still reinforcing the value of Sarbanes-Oxley to investors.
“We believe that the new guidance and auditing standards strike an appropriate balance between efficiency and effectiveness, though it will take time to […]

IRS agents are drilling dry holes during corporate audits, the Japanese version of Sarbox, a new spin on insider trading, issuing debt without all the paperwork, and how to keep workers safe, but also help them die.
When Mark Everson took office in 2003 as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, he promised that collecting underpaid […]