SOX Center

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 […]

The Office of Advocacy today praised Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commissioners Paul Atkins and Kathleen Casey for their willingness to reconsider the SEC decision not to extend the deadline for small public firm compliance with section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Advocacy wrote to the commissioners in the wake of the SEC’s decision not to […]

To help CFOs of smaller companies navigate wisely through the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance process, Lord & Benoit has published a study, “10 Threats to SOX Compliance for Smaller Public Companies.”
The study comes on the heels of actions by the SEC and PCAOB to require smaller public companies to comply with SOX this year.
In summarizing the results, […]

Several of the North Bay’s publicly traded companies will soon have to comply for the first time with the stringent accounting requirements of the federal Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is still revising those requirements, and the companies face the dilemma of whether to prepare now using the current requirements or wait for the […]

The US Senate’s thumping defeat of an amendment to exempt certain small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) from compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is bad for business US poiticians have declared.
SMBs fell foul of political battles by those decrying the amendment as an attack on shareholder protections and others countering that SOX is […]

The PCAOB revised Auditing Standard No. 2 mainly for small companies’ benefit. But large companies tell the regulator the new AS5 will also reduce their audit costs.
The revised auditing standard for internal control over financial reporting could bring cheaper auditing bills for large companies. Some publicly traded companies are estimating that their audit fees could […]

US stock market regulation has little impact on where small companies decide to list their shares, according to a report from three North American academics. The widespread perception that the US’s Sarbanes-Oxley legislation is one reason why so many international companies have chosen to list in the UK is out of touch, the report argues.
Andrew […]

Former Senator Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., who, as the head of the Senate Banking Committee, co-authored the sweeping Sarbanes-Oxley reform act said he supports developing additional guidance for smaller filers but, not surprisingly, dismisses exempting those companies from compliance with the legislation’s rigid Section 404.
“Stop and think about that for a moment,” said Sarbanes in a […]

Republicans attempted to make compliance optional for companies with a market value of less than $700 million.
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday defeated a Republican attempt to weaken 2002’s post-Enron Sarbanes-Oxley laws by making it optional for many corporations to comply with a controversial section on internal controls. By a vote of 62-35, the Senate set […]