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“A series of accounting irregularities at large companies have deepened public distrust of both accounting and auditing firms.”

This is the opening sentence of a recent editorial in the Japan Times Online, entitled “Auditing Accountability,” that continues, “It is hoped that a bill to revise the Certified Public Accountant Law, now on the Diet floor, will remind CPAs and auditing corporations of the weight of their social responsibility, and help them regain the public’s trust.”

Under the bill as described in the editorial, the maximum duration in which a chief CPA of a large auditing firm could continue to audit a listed company would be shortened from the current seven years to five years, and CPAs who have quit auditing firms would be prohibited from landing jobs at companies they audited, or their affiliates. Additionally, if companies fail to rectify irregularities that CPAs have detected, the latter would be legally required to report the failure to administrative authorities.

Web CPA: Sarbanes-Oxley Traveling?

The deadline for small companies to fully comply with Sarbanes-Oxley accounting legislation could be extended past 2008 if the costs still exceed the benefits of the law, the top accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday.

The SEC is currently requiring companies with a public market capitalization of less then $75 million to conduct a management assessment of their internal controls. But those companies will not have to have to get an internal controls audit by external auditors until 2008.

“For micro-cap companies … they will not have to have an internal control audit until 2008, and if we don’t see the cost-benefits are in line by then we’ll have to defer it even more,” Conrad Hewitt, chief accountant at the SEC, said at a New York State Society of CPAs conference in New York.

Reuter: UPDATE 1-SEC may extend SOX deadline for small US companies

This posting is sponsored by SOX Automation, Inc.

I had the pleasure to take part at the CPA High Tech Industries Conference for Financial Professionals together with my sponsor SOX Automation, Inc, at September 22th 2006.

A special thank you I like to send to Mark Jensen which is Partner & National Director, Venture Capital Services, at Deloitte & Touche LLP, for his program point: Impact of Sarbanes Oxley on Smaller Public Companies. He has given in his elaboration an deep insight about the problematics and cost explosions at smaller public companies. Our sponsor greatly appreciated also the recommendation for SOX Automation, Inc software SOX DISC®.

Especially his explanations of which steps should companies take now to ensure compliance with Sec 404 was very instructive.

Below you can see a picture, which shows me (on the left hand side) at the conference sponsor table of SOX Automation, Inc: