SOX Center

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

Two more UK companies have announced they will delist their shares from the New York stock market to avoid the burden of complying with legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Both United Utilities and ICI expect to cut their compliance costs by millions of pounds a year by dropping their secondary listings in the US.
Warrington-based United […]

When the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved last week to relax a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, it signalled the end to what could be called the Great Audit War.
Ever since U.S. lawmakers passed the corporate reforms in 2002, legal and financial executives have been waging a behind-the-scenes war with external auditors over the […]

The financial burden of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) compliance is slowly, but surely starting to ease.
The cost of compliance with Section 404 of the SOX declined by 23% in fiscal 2006, according to a survey by Financial Executives International.
The Florham Park, New Jersey-based organization found the average company spent $2.9 million on SOX compliance in 2006, […]

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed by the US Federal Government in response to the Enron scandal in 2002 has caused BioProgress to delist from NASDAQ for the second time, adding to the register of European firms fleeing the US market.
Cambridge-based specialty pharma and healthcare company, BioProgress has announced its intention to delist from the NASDAQ stock […]

Sarbox ‘no longer makes sense from a cost and administrative perspective’ says chemical giant’s CFO as ICI prepares to leave New York Stock Exchange.
ICI is gearing up to leave the New York Stock Exchange to free itself from the blight of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
The company predicted a £4m annual saving from the de-listing based on the […]